Odd Ducks

Description

Welcome to the small town of Tartan Cross, Nova Scotia, where skeletons rattle in closets and past histories are so intertwined that the lives of four fortysomething, eccentric characters have become so complicated that something needs to change. In the comedy, Odd Ducks, award-winning playwright Bryden MacDonald positions his four characters at the brink of existential angst and the action unfolds from there. At the centre of the drama is Ambrose Archibald, an irredeemable reprobate and the type of guy who rants philosophically at the bar while mooching beer from his friends. He's a narcissist who thinks he's God's gift to women. And he's having an affair with the charming and beautiful Mandy Menzies, who was the high school beauty queen but is now stuck in a marriage of convenience and a life of boredom. Her housekeeper, Estelle Carmichael, has seen it all, but her prickly exterior belies a loving heart. The dryly funny Freddy Durdle is the perfect counter- balance to over-the-top Ambrose. All four oddballs seem stuck in their lives, but searing sarcasm relieves the boredom and crazy, everyday dramas aid their struggle to move on and keep things light Cast of 2 women and 2 men.

Bryden MacDonald is a playwright, director, dramaturge, and teacher. His published plays (all with Talonbooks) are Whale Riding Weather, The Weekend Healer, Divinity Bash / ninelives, and With Bated Breath. He created and directed theatrical interpretations of the words and music of Leonard Cohen (The Light Gets In), Carol Pope and RoughTrade (Shaking the Foundations), and Joni Mitchell (When All the Slaves Are Free). His latest play, Stained Glass, is in development, as is his first novel, The Old Marsh Road.