The Road to Hell: Two One-Act Comedies

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

Michael Healey’s first play, Kicked, won a Dora Mavor Moore Award for
best new play in 1998. In 1999, his second play, The Drawer Boy, won the
same award, as well as the Governor General’s Award for drama. Kate
Lynch is an actor, theatre director, and teacher of voice and text. Her
play Tales of the Blond Assassin was performed at the Toronto Fringe
Festival and was recorded for CBC Radio.

“Yodellers,” the first of two plays in this collection, is
described by its authors as a one-act golf comedy in 18 scenes.
Essentially, it tells the story of a male golf reporter who falls in
love with a lesbian professional golfer. An amusing trifle, the play
focuses on whether the unlikely relationship will work or not.

More satisfying is the second play, “Kreskinned.” It begins with
Joyce, a dog trainer, and Dennis, manager of an antiquarian bookstore,
attending a performance by the Amazing Kreskin, in the course of a blind
date. During their post-show dinner, Joyce realizes that Dennis is still
susceptible to the trigger word used on him at Kreskin’s performance.
Every time she says the word “inclement,” Dennis dozes off. When he
comes to, he can’t remember what happened. As the romance progresses,
Joyce begins to use the trigger word more and more often to her
advantage. To complicate matters, Dennis discovers that Joyce still
responds to her own trigger word, “filigree.” Not knowing what the
other is doing, Joyce and Dennis use their newfound power over each
other, with hilarious results.

Besides deepening one’s mistrust of hypnotists, “Kreskinned”
offers a sophisticated take on contemporary romance; the agonies of the
“first date” are particularly well realized.