The Pessimist introduces us to a motley troupe of artists: Marcus, a dying theatre director, his wife, a playwright, a wanna-be actress, and a neophyte politician join forces to stage a play in the garbage dump of a small Ontario town. Their rented farmhouse becomes a refuge from reality where romance, sex, cameraderie and conversation attempt to stave off the inevitable. This Chekhovian idyll is punctuated by metaphorical zombies, women bearing pies, strange sounds in the night–and suffused with love and loss. A philosophical romantic comedy, The Pessimist asks us to consider how we keep living, when life as we know it is ending.
The Pessimist is a companion piece to Brebner’s The Optimists (Scirocco Drama, 2006), which was a finalist for the Governor General’s Literary Award for Drama.
About the Author
Morwyn Brebner is a Canadian playwright, television writer and producer, known as creator and producer of the television series Rookie Blue, Saving Hope, and Coroner. Born in Cardiff, Wales and raised in Ottawa, Ontario, Brebner is a graduate of the National Theatre School of Canada. Her plays include Music for Contortionist (nominated for the Dora Mavor Moore Award for Outstanding New Play,) Liquor Guns Karate, Little Mercy’s First Murder (winner of the Dora Award for Outstanding New Musical,) The Optimists (a finalist for the Governor General’s Award for English-language drama in 2006,) Love Among the Russians, The President, and Heartbreaker. She was also the English translator of Évelyne de la Chenelière’s plays Strawberries in January (Des fraises en janvier), Bashir Lazhar, and Public Disorder (Désordre public), and of Serge Boucher’s Motel Hélène. Morwyn and her husband, playwright Michael Healey, live in Toronto.
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