Always the optimists

Randy Hughson (seated) & Michael Healey

The night started according to plan: I was to meet Tracy at her place around 6:30 pm after I went to the grocery store to pick up some Swiss Chard, garlic, ginger, and onion – brought the Indian spices from home. She was to get the meat portion of the meal going, which turned out to be BBQ pork kabobs with onion, peppers and pineapple.

The food was great, but it took a little longer than expected, so by the time we made it to Bloor St. and headed towards the theatre, we were running late to pick up the tickets to Tarragon Theatre’s The Optimists.

“We’re going to be late,” said Tracy.
“We’re fine, don’t worry about it,” I replied.
A few minutes later she said, “Man, it’s 7:35, we’re not going to make it.”
“We’re fine, don’t worry about it,” I repeated. “The main streets north of Bloor are a lot closer together – once you’re up there, they come quick.”
“Okay, I believe you,” she said.

By the time we parked the car, picked up our tickets, and visited the restroom we still had enough time to sit back and enjoy a very tasty oatmeal raisin cookie from the confection stand in the Tarragon.

“See, you have to be an optimist,” I said to Tracy. She laughed.

With the stresses of missing curtain call well behind us, it was time to sit back and take in The Optimists, the latest work by Morwyn Brebner.

Although entertaining, it isn’t all that optimistic. It takes a while to like the characters, even Chick the somewhat lovable optimist at the centre of the play. Set in an anywhere-town hotel room, which by no means evokes the play’s location, Las Vegas, we follow the lives of three then four people as the ebb and flow through various emotions, personal likes, dislikes and jealousies, and of course some talk of wanting to take the bull by the horns at the end of the play and become optimists at any cost…

A somewhat trite assertion; then again, are we all not a little trite? We’re not all jam-packed with brilliance, are we? The Optimists works for that very reason, even if you don’t like the casting at first. The characters grow on you as you get used to their constant whining, complaining, and backdoor attempts at gaining information from each other.

So, why do four souls travel to Vegas? The occasion is Chick (Randy Hughson) getting married to a very young and bubbly Teenie (Holly Lewis). Along for the ride is Chick’s only real friend, Doug (Michael Healey), and shortly after many glasses of booze, Doug’s wife Margie (Sarah Orenstein) shows up.

For Chick, Teenie offers him true love. It seems Chick has miraculously conquered his demons: booze, food, and gambling. All thanks to Teenie, which Doug has a hard time believing is possible.

The four characters are mirror images of each other: Margie is an older and more decisive woman to Teenie’s sprite-like innocence, while Doug, going through a mid-life crisis, is the yin to Chick’s live-in-the-moment yang. As the four talk, challenge and yell at each other their truths are revealed – even those they would rather have kept to themselves.

The biggest complaint is 90 minutes seemed a bit long; the fleshing out of each character happened within the first hour, which would have been enough time for the play to make a more succinct point.

It’s a good play… Then again, I’m an optimist. Just ask Tracy!

The Optimists runs until Sun. Oct. 23 at the Tarragon Theatre, Mainspace (30 Bridgman Avenue), for tickets call (416) 531-1827 or online at www.totix.ca

Photograph by Michael Cooper