The Leisure Society [Paperback]

FranCois Archambault (Author), Bobby Theodore (Translator)

Book Description

Publication Date: September 15, 2005

Peter and Mary are unhappy. But they don’t know it yet. They work long hours. They invest their money for a retirement they will probably never enjoy. They buy things that are supposed to make them happy but that they never use. They obsess about the nightmare engines of Western economic growth: make more, earn more, have more.

Bringing a child into this frightening world fueled by instant gratification; wanting to have some time and space for themselves so they can continue to grow and develop; or dedicating time to deepen the bonds between their friends; all seem like colossal tasks. Even worse, they seem like acts of resistance—one could even say betrayal—against a system that requires everyone to be active, productive and consuming.

But in this dark and thoroughly contemporary comedy echoing The Wastemakers of the 1950s, is it too late for such unthinkable acts of defiance?

Editorial Reviews

From the Author

About the translator:

Bobby Theodore lives in Montreal and is a graduate of the National Theatre School of Canada’s playwriting program. His first translation, François Archambault’s 15 Seconds, was produced across Canada and earned him a nomination for the Governor General’s Award for Literary Translation in 2000. Since then, he has gone on to translate more than 12 plays, including the works of some of Quebec’s most talented playwrights, such as Genevieve Billette and Nathalie Boisvert.

About the Author

François Archambault
François Archambault secured his reputation as a sharp social satirist with his earlier plays Cul sec (Fast Lane) and Les gagnants (The Winners) and further established his importance on the Quebec theatre scene with the award-winning 15 Seconds, a darkly humorous play about social alienation arising from superficial relationships.

Bobby Theodore
Bobby Theodore’s first translation, François Archambault’s 15 Seconds, was produced across Canada and earned him a nomination for the Governor General’s Award for Literary Translation in 2000. Since then, he has gone on to translate more than 12 plays, including the works of some of Quebec’s most talented playwrights.

Product Details

• Paperback: 96 pages
• Publisher: Talonbooks; 1 edition (September 15, 2005)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0889225311
• ISBN-13: 978-0889225312
• Product Dimensions: 7.6 x 5.2 x 0.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 5.6 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #5,707,111 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5.0 out of 5 stars "You can't always do what you want.", March 12, 2006

By 

Luan Gaines "luansos" (Dana Point, CA USA) - See all my reviews
(TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (VINE VOICE)    (HALL OF FAME REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Leisure Society (Paperback)

Peter and Mary are avid consumers, their combined incomes and rising debts affording them an elegant home, baby son and the potential adoption of a Chinese orphan, the required status symbols of a self-indulgent class. Their problems are overwhelming, if vapid, escalating financial worries, a constantly crying infant, a deteriorating relationship with a recently divorced fried, Mark, and whether to quit smoking. From the opening act, it is clear that this couple, while outwardly united, pursues separate emotional paths, stunningly self-centered, defined by their infantile needs and shallow opinions gleaned from society's expectations rather than any meaningful connection to the world at large: "We have some friends who lost their house. That got us in touch with poverty."

Questioned about their desire to adopt a Chinese girl, the answer is equally ludicrous: "I guess we think they're kind of cute." Peter and Mary enable each other's weaknesses, contributing to the flawed structure of their union. A dinner has been arranged as an excuse to inform Mark they don't want him for a friend anymore, but when he arrives, Mark is accompanied by a "special friend", the twenty-one year old Paula, a frequent, but uncommitted sexual partner. The plan goes early awry in a confusion of intimate confessions and a growing sexual tension, Peter and Mary jockeying for emotional dominance of a situation that will leave one of them, the weaker, on the sidelines. As the evening continues, Peter, Mary and Mark reveal themselves as callous opportunists, too immature for the parenthood they readily endorse. Even Paula is devoid of innocence, already corrupted by the casual physicality of her lifestyle: "I've only been drinking to get drunk for two or three years."

The concluding act brings Peter and Mary full circle, caught in a trap of their own making, their small rebellions reduced to bleats of discontent, more encumbered than when they began, precariously propped up by expediency and ill-prepared to meet the future. In a gathering fueled by alcohol and an increasing lack of inhibitions, The Leisure Society is a scathing indictment of Western society, instant gratification and the rampant consumerism that obliterates the human face of a generation driven to acquire while emoting a crackling dissatisfaction with life as they know it. Luan Gaines/ 2006.