Suburban Motel

by George F. Walker

Book Overview

Something completely different from George Walker Six plays, united only by the fact that they each take place in one and the same suburban motel room. Transients, lovers, the haunted and the hunted, the desperate and the dumb, each "strut and fret their hour upon the stage and then are heard of no more." Real, funny and heartbreaking. With an introduction by Daniel De Raey. Suburban Motel contains six plays: Problem Child , Criminal Genius , Risk...

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0889224129
• ISBN13: 9780889224124
• Release Date: February 1999
• Publisher: Talonbooks
• Length: 320 Pages
• Weight: 0.60 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.7" x 5.6" x 8.4"

Customer Reviews

Canada's premier playwright does it again

George F. Walker has a knack for creating astonishing, vivid characters that exist beyond the confines of the stage. After seeing his plays, you leave convinced that these people were not simply dissolved into nothingness when the play concluded. Their lives continue on, as is sometimes most obvious when Walker revisits his characters down the road.SUBURBAN MOTEL is a series of six plays, all taking place in the same (supposedly) seedy motel room. Each play stands alone, although some characters do pop up in more than one. The interconnecting theme, besides the location, is the despair that these characters feel.As in most Walker plays, the plot is secondary. These are character-driven pieces, with no pat answers or Neil Simon-type wit. The inhabitants of these tales are stuck in lives they want out of, but with no clear idea as to how to leave.Everyone will have their favorite play. Mine is CRIMINAL GENIUS, in which several criminals (including a few from previous Walker productions) decide to overthrow a vicious crimelord. Sadly, they fail miserably. I give nothing away by this; the enjoyment here comes from the characters, not the plot.Overall, some plays don't measure up to others. They lack the bite of Walker's best plays (see ZASTROZZI or NOTHING SACRED). But less-than-perfect-Walker is still good theatre, and good reading.

You're wrong.

There are six plays. Did you even read the damn thing