Five @ Fifty

by Brad Fraser

When Olivia loses control at her fiftieth birthday party, her four best friends decide to intervene once and for all, much to the irritation of Olivia and her lover, Norma. But is she the only one battling a demon? Or do each of these women face an addiction of one kind or another? Five @ Fifty is a raw and darkly comedic portrayal of turning fifty in contemporary society, and of the friendships we can't live without.

Genres: Plays

96 pages, Kindle Edition

First published September 15, 2012

Reviews

[Kyle · Rating 4 out of 5]

This play was wonderful! Why isn't it being produced in every city across Canada? It has everything that contemporary audiences are looking for. A strong, all-female cast. Wit. Catharsis. A range of hot-button issues: Gay-marriage, alcoholism, aging, dignity, domestic abuse.... and through finely crafted dialogue it presents the issues so that there are no preachy moments, no heavy or depressing moments, no talking-heads moments, no stale moments.

It's a really good play with some really excellent, challenging roles in it. Would love to see a production of it sometime.
4/5

[Doug · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fraser felt a mission to write something for middle-aged actresses that could showcase their neglected talents when at the height of their powers - and if for no other reason than that worthy goal, this play is a winner. The story of a group of women who have all known each other for 30 years, coming together to confront one whose alcoholism is getting out of control, is fertile territory for some juicy one-liners and colorful, fully-rounded characters. The playwright states that he attempted to be true to how women really talk and act when with each other, and to work against the campiness that can ensue when a gay male writes such. There, he is not always successful (would a straight woman REALLY refer to her suspiciously fey husband as a 'bottom'?), and the plot veers perilously close to melodrama at times. The original working title -'Interventing Sylvia Fairfax' - would also seem to be better than this somewhat oblique one.

[David]

Brad Fraser expresses somewhat annoyed surprise in his preface that this play has not yet received a North American production. It would certainly be a great challenge for any company who wished to mount it. I found it difficult to really like the characters. I could empathize to an extent with the feelings they had concerning their life problems and I could recognize shared components in how we all contribute to our own life problems, but at the same time I felt they were a little alienating, perhaps not intelligent about some of the choices were making, inclined as so many people are to blaming others. I don't think my general distance from the characters has anything to do with the issues of gender that Fraser is so keen to present. I have many friends who are women in their 50s, including my wife. Fraser cites his European producer, expressing the opinion that men are not interested in this kind of play and that women don't want to see this kind of play written by a gay man. Fraser hopes that evaluation is wrong. I'm not sure. Still an ensemble cast of five women around the age of 50 would be great to see in this context and perhaps flesh-and-blood actors would evoke (in me anyway) more sympathy than the characters do on the page.

[Anne Russell · Rating 4 out of 5]

This caught my eye because I hit a certain milestone myself recently. It was interesting and refreshing to see the issues faced by women in midlife reflected (although they did all seem a little 'older' than me), and the intervention/addiction narrative addressed in a realistic manner (i.e., people relapse). Was intrigued by how many of the characters were estranged either from children or parents, making the long friendship of this group of five even more central to their collective lives.

[Mark Cofta · Rating 5 out of 5]

An incisive play about five women at that magic age and their struggles with addiction. A fascinating play that I would love to see produced; alas, Fraser loses credibility -- unfairly -- by being a male playwright writing about female characters. We as a culture have gone overboard with this idea that authors can only write about themselves, as if experience, observation, and imagination are worthless. The proof that one can write about someone and something that one is not is in the script.