About
the Plays:
Contains Never Swim Alone and This Is A Play, two
celebrated short plays by Daniel MacIvor. Never Swim Alone
is a funny, satirical story about two men locked in a deadly
competition for seemingly no reason. This Is A Play is a
hilarious postmodern romp through the interior lives of actors in a
bad play. These plays may be performed separately. They are both
quite similar yet very different as well, and their pairing as an
evening of entertainment forms a nice contrast. Never Swim Alone
and This Is A Play are both especially
recommended for school and contest use.
Never Swim Alone centres around Frank and Bill, two
identically dressed, egotistical businessmen who are locked in a
ruthless battle of verbal one-upmanship, which is refereed by a
female lifeguard. The three are linked by a dark episode in their
past. (Cast: 1 female, 2 male)
Never Swim Alone was first produced in 1991 at Theatre
Centre in Toronto. It
has become a popular choice for college and high school theatre
productions.
What people say about Never Swim
Alone:
"[Never Swim Alone]
a perfectly self-contained and unabashedly artificial work...
[MacIvor] is a writer with an angular sense of humour and an uncommon
knack for probing basic elements and truths of human behaviour."
— Toronto Star
"A startlingly new piece of
theater … a tour de force … leaves you quite breathless."
— Village Voice
"Theatrically dangerous …
arresting… compelling theater." — Backstage
"A clever, jaunty piece of
entertainment … Pure Pop Poetry." — Time Out New
York
"Dynamic direction … sharp
performances … bound to have an extended run." — Daily
News
This Is A Play follows three actors who, while performing,
reveal their own thoughts and motivations as they struggle through
crazy stage directions and an unoriginal musical score. A farcical look at theatre itself. Daniel MacIvor combines the outer
monologue of the actors with their inner monologue, pulling back the
dramatic mask. (Cast: 2
female, 1 male)
This is a Play was first produced in 1991 at Bathurst
Street Theatre in Toronto.
What people say about This Is A
Play:
"Ingenious, whimsical, a
lyrical lunacy in the writing, This Is A Play is
a theatre experience comedy you might associate with Tom Stoppard."
— Globe and Mail
"This is a Play,
a light and entertaining piece about the artifice and creative fire
of performance and various tricks of the trade. It's full of
theatrical in-jokes as it shifts with all seams showing between
melodrama, naturalism and angst … It's a diverting charade."
— Sydney Morning Herald
About the Playwright:
Daniel MacIvor is a Canadian playwright and performer.
Recipient of the coveted Governor General's Award for Drama (Canadian
equivalent of the Pulitzer Prize), two Chalmers New Play Awards, an
Obie Award, a GLADD Award, the $100,000 Siminovitch Prize, and
countless theatre awards across the country, he is one of Canada's
greatest living playwrights.