About the Plays:

HARD TO FIND BOOK, only a very limited number of copies are still available.

Blowfish has long been a favourite of acting teachers for Male Monologues.

The volume Apple and Blowfish contains two full-length dramas by Vern Thiessen. Both are well-known earlier plays. A couple deal with cancer in poignant Apple. Amidst tales of tornadoes and car crashes, the darkly comic and unusual drama Blowfish examines the rituals of food, eating and death.

Apple: Andy, a middle-aged government employee, is in trouble. He has been downsized from his job and his childless, loveless marriage to Lyn, an attractive, hard-driving real estate agent, is in crisis. He meets a mysterious young woman named Samantha on a park bench on the day he is laid-off from the job he loves and looks to her for salvation. But when his wife is diagnosed with a terminal illness, Andy must make a choice: to care for an estranged wife or run away with a woman he knows little about. A haunting tale of sex, secrets and the second chances, it is couched with the notion that bombshells of fate fall upon your life like apples: sometimes bitter, sometimes sweet. (Premiered in 2002 at the Kaasa Theatre in Edmonton; Cast: 2 female, 1 male)

What people say:

"[Thiessen's] ear for pungent dialogue, ability to mine characters' innermost feelings and insight into contemporary relationships suggest a playwright with the power to deeply engage the audience… you won't want to miss Apple." — New York Times

"a series of spare but powerful scenes… that has deep emotional resonance… the kind of package that should prove inviting to theaters everywhere." — Variety

"One man, two women, three miseries. That triangle is the oldest geometry in the world, but in Apple, Canadian playwright Vern Thiessen reminds us that it still has infinite ways to break your heart." — The Boston Globe

"Apple tells a fascinating tale of alienation, fear and the need for love… wonderful elegance to Thiessen's writing and structure." — The Globe and Mail

"…a shining example of tight writing… strongly rooted in the small coincidences and genuine language of naturalism… a moving tribute to strength in the face of death." — Vancouver Sun

"…poetic, tough and funny… Thiessen has created a restrained yet dynamic piece of music… mortality, loneliness, heartbreak and transcendence are what Apple is all about." — The Georgia Straight

Blowfish (the title is metaphorical, referring to the potentially fatal Japanese delicacy) is an unusual socio-political experience. How do dysfunctional Prairie twins, a tragic teen-turned-vegetable, right-wing American politics, the Edmonton tornado, an undistinguished BA in philosophy and a Mila Mulroney fixation spin together? In the play, essentially a monologue, it becomes clear that the food-obsessed and death-distracted caterer Lumiere welcomes the audience, his guests, to an evening of food and death and talk of weather and politics – not, perhaps, so unusual in a character who is a philosophy graduate, son of mortician parents and Westerner. Lumiere delves into narratives and commentaries on such favoured topics as the fate of his mortician parents in the Edmonton tornado; the accident and consequent vegetative state that befalls his twin brother; the possible non-randomness of weather; and an early worshipful fascination with former Canadian Prime Minister Brian Mulroney's wife, Mila. It is with this work that Vern Thiessen started to make his reputation. (Premiered in 1996 at Commerce Place in Edmonton; Cast: 1 male)

What people say:

"Blowfish is in-your-face and elusive, all at the same time – both a teasing enigmatic game and a no-holds-barred confession." — John Murrell, playwright

"The script is brilliant… A highly imaginative work…." — Ottawa Sun

"Let's just say that it's black. It's creepy. It's deliciously morbid and delectably dark." — Vue Weekly

About the Playwright:

Vern Thiessen is one of Canada's most produced playwrights. He has written for stage, radio and television. His stage plays – including Apple and Blowfish – have been seen off-Broadway and in regional theatres across Canada, the United States, Asia, the United Kingdom, the Middle East and Europe. He is the winner of many awards including the Governor General's Literary Award, Canada's highest honour for playwriting. He splits his time between Canada and New York City.