The Optimists: Getting Wasted in Vegas

Chick (John Murphy) and Teenie (Anastasia Phillips) tie one on before the wedding
The Optimists (to March 3)

The Optimists opened last night at the Granville Island Stage (Arts Club Co.). My handsome and charming date and I attended. It's a two-act, four-actor play set in a hotel room in Vegas.

We're introduced to three of them when the lights go up; it's Chick (an aging Toyota salesman, twice-divorced who had a shining and promising youth), Teenie (who is sitting on his lap, miniskirt, leggings and blonde ponytail) and Doug (childhood best friend of Chick, now an oncologist married to a psychologist with a pubescent daughter).

Chick and Teenie are getting married in the morning, and then going for breakfast at Denny's. Teenie is the receptionist at the dealership, who falls for Chick after he grabs her ass in the stairway, and then brings her apologetic donuts and coffee for a month. Their first date is at the Swiss Chalet (this all smacks of Toronto, where all of them are from).

Margie, Doug's wife, shows up at the end of the first act, unexpectedly and unwelcome, as she's a pushy, mean woman who Doug obviously harbours much hate for. Their marital problems quickly come out as the liquor flows.

The play has some great dialogue and is a good study in relationships and human behaviour. It is stilted in parts, both in acting and dialogue, and many details are left to the audience member to figure out - it's a puzzle that doesn't quite fit together right. But overall it is strong enough, and the picture it paints through both acts kept us both interested throughout.

The set design is great - very mid- to low-range hotel/motel, painted in that awful pinky-brown.

By Morwyn Brebner, directed by Rachel Ditor
Starring Scott Bellis, Jillian Fargey, John Murphy, Anastasia Phillips

Arts Club Theatre Company
Granville Island Stage
Tickets: $25-$36.50 with discounts for students, seniors, and groups

Photo by David Cooper