Generous

Synopsis

What happens when someone is overwhelmed with the desire to help? A minority government is on the verge of collapse; a ruthless oil executive tells the truth to a reporter; an effusive young law clerk engages in an excruciating post-coital chat with an aging judge; and a spectacular battle wages over a bucket of fried chicken. Through four interconnected stories, Michael Healey questions the idea of the selfless act. Politically-charged, sharply-written and hilarious, Generous is a tour-de-force from one of Canada’s most successful playwrights.

Our Review:

8 September 2009

Canadian playwright Michael Healey’s cerebral and extraordinarily true-to-life play Generous has returned to the Finborough Theatre following its debut stint at the same venue last summer.

The play draws parallels with recent Canadian political history, but the more prominent subject matter is the examination of an individual’s innate desire to help and where it stems from. “It’s better to offer floored help than to turn our backs,” is a Generous line that accurately sums up the morals within.

Act One is split into four interlinked stories set in 1991 as we are introduced to hot-headed, seriously stressed-out Prime Minister Marc Brancois (John Sheerman), whose Government is on the verge of collapse; belligerent and sarcastic oil-executive Julia (Jane Perry), who is confronted by an unusually sensitive journalist; and naïve “I love you guy” Alex Flemming (Richard Beanland), who it seems would excited...

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Latest User Review

rds - 20 January 2010:

A terrific ensemble with particularly outstanding performances from, Jane Perry as Julia a predatory femme fatale; Richard Beanland a both Alex and Tommy whose tortuous ramblings are a delight. The play is fiction, but as the program notes state it draws parallels with fairly recent Canadian political history, which to be fair doesn't seem too promising a subject, but that view is confounded by terrific writing, great characterisation and some of the best performances I've seen on stage for a long while. It's thought provoking and funny - what more do we want? And one of the big surprises of the night is the reconfigured auditorium which makes the room look much bigger than before. I am off to Toronto in March to see Courageous, the sequel to Generous, at the Tarragon theatre where both plays premiered last year. Michael Healey came to play writing quite late in life - it seems he has made up for the delay!...

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