Odd Jobs

David E. Kemp is a drama professor at Queen’s University and the
author of The Pleasures and Treasures of the United Kingdom.

Frank Moher is a well known figure in Western Canadian Theatre, and he has written many works for stage, radio and television. Pause won both the Alberta Culture and Edmonton Journal playwriting awards in 1974, while Down for the Weekend first aired on CBC Radio and had its stage premiere in 1980 at Edmonton’s Northern Light Theatre. Moher is presently an associate playwright at Workshop West Theatre in Edmonton. Odd Jobs, his fourth published play, is a compassionate look at the havoc the modern world wreaks on relationships.

Tim, a young welder, has lost his job to a robot arm. A retired professor hires him to do odd jobs, and Tim finds contentment in the simple tasks he is assigned. But when his wife Ginette is offered employment in another city, Tim’s quiet universe is threatened. The aspirations and needs of all three characters in the play come into conflict, and the result blends anger, passion, warmth, and humour into a most compelling and entertaining whole.

Odd Jobs is a simple well-told story of three caring people. It provides excellent characterization, good dramatic structure and an effective commentary on the nature of the industrialized society in which we all live. Eminently readable and excitingly theatrical, Odd Jobs is a major new piece of work in the Canadian theatre.