Synopsis
Malice Toward None is three interlinked monologues.
What Would Cathy Do? centres on a Cathy, a 42 year old junky in decline. To shield herself from the true horror of her life, Cathy has devised an elaborate ruse: re-imagining her life as research for a film role. Like her idol Marlon Brando, she believes in drawing on real life experiences in order to create a character. So her filthy tracksuits pants are merely a costume; her interactions with fellow lowlifes are carefully recorded in a notebook; and offers of help are politely declined because she can't break character before the end of the “shoot”. Cathy's baroque self-delusion is unwavering, and by the end, takes on the beauty of an artist vision.
My Name is Pete is the story of a gambling addict who, in order to support his habit, recruits other desperate people from therapy groups to “smurf” for him. “Smurfing” involves buying cold and flu tablets in small quantities from chemists, then on-selling them to illegal drug manufacturers, who use them to make methamphetamines.
Demand is increasing and Pete is under extreme pressure from George, his boss, to increase the number of tablets he collects. Pete desperately tries to ramp up his efforts, but at 74, his memory is starting to fail. As he becomes more and more forgetful, his fellow smurfs start retiring or dropping out, and it seems Pete might be destroyed by George for failing to deliver. But instead, Pete's encroaching dementia provides him with an unexpected release from his sad, grinding lifestyle. Free from the shame of his past, he no longer needs to gamble, and George the bully can no longer control him.
Janet Wants a Carrot is the story of Jane and her carrot obsessed mother, Janet. Jane lives with her partner Julie. They have good jobs and a mortgage, and for the past year have been seriously contemplating starting a family. But then Jane gets a call to say that her mother Janet has turned orange. Upon further investigation, Jane discovers that Janet has been existing on a carrot-only diet for some time. Although she fears that Janet's “addiction” is just ploy to get her to move back home, she starts devoting herself to finding a cure. In the process, she visits doctors, psychologists, and psychiatrists; she even takes matters into her own hands by locking Janet in the house and forcing her to go cold turkey. But nothing works, because Janet has no desire to change. Meanwhile, Julie, her partner, is making her own demands: spend more time with her and take their baby making seriously,
or look elsewhere for a relationship. Janet wants a carrot is about the relentlessness of addictions and obsessions, and how Jane's futile efforts to control her mother only end up destroying her.
Malice Toward None is three interlinked monologues.
What Would Cathy Do? centres on a Cathy, a 42 year old junky in decline. To shield herself from the true horror of her life, Cathy has devised an elaborate ruse: re-imagining her life as research for a film role. Like her idol Marlon Brando, she believes in drawing on real life experiences in order to create a character. So her filthy tracksuits pants are merely a costume; her interactions with fellow lowlifes are carefully recorded in a notebook; and offers of help are politely declined because she can't break character before the end of the “shoot”. Cathy's baroque self-delusion is unwavering, and by the end, takes on the beauty of an artist vision.
My Name is Pete is the story of a gambling addict who, in order to support his habit, recruits other desperate people from therapy groups to “smurf” for him. “Smurfing” involves buying cold and flu tablets in small quantities from chemists, then on-selling them to illegal drug manufacturers, who use them to make methamphetamines.
Demand is increasing and Pete is under extreme pressure from George, his boss, to increase the number of tablets he collects. Pete desperately tries to ramp up his efforts, but at 74, his memory is starting to fail. As he becomes more and more forgetful, his fellow smurfs start retiring or dropping out, and it seems Pete might be destroyed by George for failing to deliver. But instead, Pete's encroaching dementia provides him with an unexpected release from his sad, grinding lifestyle. Free from the shame of his past, he no longer needs to gamble, and George the bully can no longer control him.
Janet Wants a Carrot is the story of Jane and her carrot obsessed mother, Janet. Jane lives with her partner Julie. They have good jobs and a mortgage, and for the past year have been seriously contemplating starting a family. But then Jane gets a call to say that her mother Janet has turned orange. Upon further investigation, Jane discovers that Janet has been existing on a carrot-only diet for some time. Although she fears that Janet's “addiction” is just ploy to get her to move back home, she starts devoting herself to finding a cure. In the process, she visits doctors, psychologists, and psychiatrists; she even takes matters into her own hands by locking Janet in the house and forcing her to go cold turkey. But nothing works, because Janet has no desire to change. Meanwhile, Julie, her partner, is making her own demands: spend more time with her and take their baby making seriously,
or look elsewhere for a relationship. Janet wants a carrot is about the relentlessness of addictions and obsessions, and how Jane's futile efforts to control her mother only end up destroying her.