2000

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

Set in an upscale home in suburban Vancouver, 2000 explores the tensions
that are experienced by a middle-aged yuppie couple as the millennium
approaches.

Joan MacLeod has expressed a fascination with “the notion of the wild
invading the city and the city invading the wild, [with] the idea of
things not being quite right in nature and the approach of the
millennium.” This fascination manifests itself in 2000 via the story
of a cougar that runs across the Second Narrows Bridge, through town,
and into the Pacific Coliseum before heading back to the wild.

Triggering the yuppie couple’s angst are three superbly drawn
characters. The most important is Nanny, the 96-year-old grandmother of
the yuppie wife. Nanny is a wonderful creation. Close to death, she
hopes to be met in the “place beyond” not by God, but by Chief Dan
George. Wise and close to the natural world, she is everything the
couple is not.

Employed to take care of Nanny is the tough, crude, passionate, and
intuitive Janine whose rapport with Nanny is beautifully developed.
Finally, there is the Mountain Man. Like the cougar, this enigmatic
character is both dangerous and romantic.

Notwithstanding the occasional heavy-handed metaphor or analogy, 2000
is a remarkable achievement. It’s a pity that this edition contains no
biographical information about Joan MacLeod, who over the course of her
playwriting career has been awarded the Chalmers Canadian Play Award,
the Dora Mavor Moore Award, and the Governor General’s Literary Award
for drama.