About the Play:

Relatively Speaking is the collective title for three one-act comedies by Ethan Coen, Elaine May and Woody Allen. This Broadway production is an evening of three one-act comedies, each springing from different branches of the family tree. Talk Therapy uncovers the sort of insanity than can only come from family. George Is Dead explores the hilarity of death, and Honeymoon Motel invites you to the sort of wedding day you won't forget.

Talking Cure by four-time Oscar winner Ethan Coen (the screenwriter of such brilliant films as Fargo and The Big Lebowski) is a bitingly funny tug-of-war between a hostile patient incarcerated in a mental hospital and the therapist trying to examine the source of his abnormal behaviour. The story drops us into a series of sessions between an uncooperative postal worker arguing semantics and sanity with his doctor. The two spar verbally over a violent incident involving a post office, a customer and a heavy-duty stapler, but the patient won't even cop to the act itself. And his mother and father get a word in as well.

George Is Dead by two-time Oscar nominee Elaine May (the screenwriter of Heaven Can Wait and The Birdcage) centers on Doreen, a spoiled socialite who doesn't have a clue where to turn after she gets the news that her husband has died in a skiing accident. Carla may qualify as her only friend. But really she's just the daughter of Doreen's favourite nanny. Doreen invites herself into Carla's home, but Doreen is too hilariously spoiled and superficial to grieve. Can anyone be that monumentally self-absorbed, even in a farce? Happily, yes!

Honeymoon Motel by Woody Allen is an old-school farce with what appears to be a bride and groom settling into the "Honeymoon" suite for what they hope will be a magical night. But all is not what it seems to be, however, and soon the rest of the wedding party barges in on the couple. The suite turns into a madhouse with the bride, groom, the bride's parents, the groom's parents, a friend, the confused rabbi, and a psychiatrist, and even the pizza delivery guy crowding into the room and squabbling about everyone else's dirty secrets. Let's just say this wasn't what the groom had in mind.

Cast: 7 female, 8 male (doubling, flexible casting)

Relatively Speaking premiered in 2011 at the Brooks Atkinson Theatre on Broadway in New York City. The play has been performed in regional, college, and community theatre productions.

What people say:

"Firecracker funny… A savory tasting platter of comedies, packed with nifty zingers." — The New York Times

"A rollicking good time." — The New Yorker

"Sometimes poignant, sometimes sad and often hysterical." — Associated Press

"So juicy and brilliantly funny, it's worth more than a Cartier necklace." — New York Post

About the Playwright:

Ethan Coen is an American screenwriter and producer who has also written plays, poetry, and short stories. Working alongside his brother Joel, he is widely considered one of the most visionary and idiosyncratic filmmakers of the late 20th Century.

Elaine May has enjoyed a multifaceted career as a highly regarded writer, director, and performer. She began her career with the comedy troupe Second City, where she first met Mike Nichols. The duo went on to become one of the most successful comedy teams of the day, headlining a year-long run of An Evening With Nichols and May on Broadway. She has also written plays for the stage and was honoured with an Academy Award nomination for Best Screenplay for the comedy Heaven Can Wait, which she co-wrote with the film's star Warren Beatty.

Woody Allen is an American screenwriter, director, actor, comedian, jazz musician, author, and playwright. His prolific career has now spanned more than five decades.