We saw this play in 1998 at the Arts Club Granville Island stage, and It is one that has stuck with me ever since. Morris Panych is a favourite playwright, with several good plays seen over the years at local theatres.
Briefly, things start out casually, with Lawrence chatting with Holloman over a beer at a work event. Lawrence makes several assumptions about Holloman – that he feels like a loser, that he lives with his mother, that he’s never had a girlfriend – and is boastful about his own successes and imagined big future. This rubs Holloman the wrong way, so much so that he begins a crusade against this braggart, one that binds them together in a tragicomic downfall. It is hilarious and horrifying and wonderfully entertaining. Imagine Waiting for Godot by the Coen Brothers.
I loved the stark contrast between optimist/egoist/overconfident Lawrence and pessimist/realist/insecure Holloman, and the fiendish unravelling of lives that ensues. A true dark comedy, there are many laugh-out-loud moments within a very sinister plot, as the situation continues to several precipices where you think, it can’t possible continue…and then it does.
This book (along with two others by Panych) were a terrific birthday gift this year from my beloved sister/theatre buddy. It’s a testament to her special brand of thoughtfulness that she remembered how much I liked it (and have never stopped talking about it), and sought these out for me. Love you, sis ♥️.
Fate: Will stay in my library.
1 – a murder
9 – made into a film
14 – a name in the title
22 – a play
25 – new author to me
27 – a gift
33 – Canadian
rclr 
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