Selected Theatre

Ten years after a shattering crisis, Adam and Sacha meet again. They carry the scars of events which severed—and nearly destroyed—them both. Sacha, a history professor, is spontaneously moved to visit his old friend recuperating from a bout of AIDS-related pneumonia. Together they forge a relationship that transforms them both. 

At the same time Adam's mother Iris struggles to accept her son while trying desperately to reconcile a fractured family. Weaving themes of memory, AIDS, a mother's love and the history of epidemics, BEAT THE SUNSET is an explosive, life-affirming play about the transformative power of intimacy.

"There were times during the opening night of Michael MacLennan's BEAT THE SUNSET when I wanted to burst into applause; I was that grateful for the beauty and honesty of certain passages of writing and moments of performance. . . . MacLennan writes for physical theatre as few people do. As I listened to his text with the rest of the audience, his words seemed to flow straight from his head to our hearts, and in their journey from body to bodies, they transformed the space around us."

— Georgia Straight

"Only occasionally (well, almost never) is a new play this intelligent, this well-performed, this well-developed. A fascinating, moving, touching portrait of life and love. A remarkable production, a true rarity in the world of theatre."

— Vancouver Echo

"BEAT THE SUNSET delivers a powerful and moving theatre experience that journeys to some familiar places in different shoes. . . . BEAT THE SUNSET looks at the subject of AIDS, not as the prelude to death, but as another element to be considered in choosing to embrace life and the intricate miracles of intimacy."

— XTRA West

"An uncomfortably, brilliantly honest story about a struggle for intimacy between a young man with AIDS and his childhood best friend. One of the most promising scripts to hit Vancouver in a long time."

— North Shore News

"Startlingly accomplished and sophisticated. This is one of the best new plays I've seen by a Victoria writer, ever. Maclennan. . . has emerged as a playwright of great promise."

— Times-Colonist

"A probing, skilfully written drama which brings incredible insight and humanity to the subject of AIDS. Without a hint of preachiness or pedantics, the play analyses and informs while telling a story that is as much about true emotions and human dignity as it is about the ravages of AIDS."

— Times-Colonist

"The run-away success of the festival: if you got a chance to see it, you'll know why."

— Martlet

Playwrights Canada Press

Winner-Theatrum Playwriting Award

Winner-Sidney Risk Award 

GRACE charts the lives of six remarkable people in one day—a day when each one's life is inexorably changed. As their paths intersect, these strangers affect and transform one another in astonishing, often hilarious ways.

The play is a heart-wrenching yet life-affirming exploration of fate and attraction, investigating what it means to achieve the grace of meaningful, if fleeting, human connection in the city.

"A superb feat of dramatic orchestration.  The script is frequently funny, and so pliant and unforced that one soon gives it mental permission to go where it likes for as long as it likes. In fact, this indulgence turns out to be unnecessary; as the permutations unfold, the structure is revealed to be extremely tight, themes and motifs echoing from one encounter to another... GRACE is a blessing."

— National Post

"The real revelation is MacLennan, with his dark humour, crackling dialogue and ability to express the inexpressible.  MacLennan's a master at suggesting menace and violence, and GRACE'S few moments of heightened lyricism never feel forced or showy."

— Now Magazine

"In GRACE, a fascinating sequence of linked episodes about the fear and mercy of strangers, the "angels" are fiercely idiosyncratic, gloriously loopy, and disturbingly strange. They turn seediness into beauty and devastation into hope.... The characters are observed with amazing candour and much humour... MacLennan has written a small miracle of theatre."

— Xtra Magazine

"Fascinating script, playRites 98's best show. His sharp, pungent imagery and character relationships coalesce in scenes that are always thrillingly unpredictable."

— NOW Magazine

"GRACE held me with its rare and valuable strengths of originality, surprise and honesty. MacLennan spikes GRACE with rich dark humour, sudden moments of recognition, and poetry."

— The Georgia Straight

"The sensitivity and poetry of MacLennan's vision—not to mention the technical facility displayed by his ability to link the stories make for a fantastic evening."

— Times-Colonist

"Absolutely terrific... superb characterizations, brilliantly written."

— Liberty Radio, London UK

"GRACE tackles innocence lost with poetry worthy of Blake. MacLennan takes what is essentially a series of short stories about the everyday losers one might encounter on  streets, and turning it into a search for love, companionship and ultimately redemption. ... The playwright disarms all with alarming candour and sets a ballast of humour to round out what is deeply entertaining drama. GRACE is magnificent."

— Victoria News

Scirocco Press

Winner-Canadian National Playwriting Competition

Twenty years ago, Len took a photograph. Now that the nude portrait has resurfaced in an obscenity trial, Len's childhood friend Malcolm re-enters his life to confront him. 

At the same time, teenage Elliot pursues his secret "sissy boy" ambitions while bullied by Derrick, a troubled schoolmate who himself is mired in a web of lies. Elliot's friend Ivan may be able to stop the inevitable disaster but only if he can find the courage to transform himself.

A thrilling puzzle weaving two generations, THE SHOOTING STAGE explores how boys become men, and how the fortunate survive violence through acts of the imagination.

"Superbly written, THE SHOOTING STAGE is a compelling story that builds, scene by scene, to an almost excruciating point of tension. It doesn't get much better than this."

— Vancouver Courier

"Michael Lewis MacLennan's wonderful new play THE SHOOTING STAGE ... keeps us sharp by weaving seemingly implausible connections that somehow all fit together at the end. What's marvellous is how all characters eventually come into contact with one another, and how the playwright keeps surprising us. MacLennan plays our emotions like a pinball wizard working his favourite table.... Besides being a riveting evening of theatre, THE SHOOTING STAGE is a penetrating look at the lives of grown men through the painful prism of adolescence."

— West Ender

"What really drives THE SHOOTING STAGE is a fine script, well played. ... It's the wicked turns of the plot that command our attention. Things change, constantly and rapidly, in this compelling and labyrinthine story." * * * * (out of four)

— Globe and Mail

"It's an ugly business, growing up. Yet in his new production THE SHOOTING STAGE, Michael Lewis MacLennan's insight into the pain and violene of adolescence makes for theatre that is often nothing less than beautiful. The play's complex double narrative...intersects with discoveries of surprising, often unsettling connections between the men and the teens. Like the transition from youth to adulthood, THE SHOOTING STAGE is challenging, sometimes exhilarating, but consistently compelling."

— Georgia Straight

"THE SHOOTING STAGE is filled with achingly real portraits. MacLennan has mastered the tricky art of creating well-rounded characters who can be both funny and painful to watch."

— Vancouver Sun

Playwrights Canada Press

Finalist-Governor General's Award

Winner-Banff/Paris Translation Prize

Nominated-Best Play, Jessie Awards

Winner-Voaden National Playwriting Competition

A riveting, rollicking comedy about three people trying to conceive a baby.

They’re the ultimate downtown couple — attractive, smart and successful. They have everything they could ever want — except a child.

When bad news points them to alternative methods of conception, they encounter a handsome young art model. He seems like the perfect solution to their problems. But as this unlikely trio gets more intimate, secret agendas surface and threaten to destroy not only their hasty deal, but everything they’ve so carefully built for themselves.

Theatrically audacious, THE GOOD EGG is an achingly real and penetrating portrait of three people on the brink.

“A smart, hip and fast-paced comedy... Far above the realm of [a] very clever and funny sitcom, it succeeds very well indeed in joining laughter to the shifting nature of human relationships.” *****

— Calgary Herald

“ The Good Egg is a sharp, fun, sexy comedy full of poetic language, punched up with raunchy jokes, witty repartee, [and an] honesty and directness that is so appealing. All three characters are fully rounded — full of flaws and insecurities as they tumble through these huge life-altering events.”

— Fast Forward Weekly

“Highly amusing yet also full of touching moments, ... the play [is an] acute examination of the boundaries and definitions of family, parenthood, love and identity. Avoiding easy categorization as an issue drama, the timely subject matter is dealt with honestly and will get you talking once the show’s over.”

— Avenue Calgary

Commissioned: CanStage

Playwrights Canada Press

What survives the passage of time? Great art? Great love?

Inspired by long-forgotten British artists, Charles Ricketts and Charles Shannon, LAST ROMANTICS travels from the drawing rooms of fin-de-siècle London with Oscar Wilde and Aubrey Beardsley, to MacKenzie King's Canada on the eve of the Great Depression.

A witty and heartfelt elegy to art, beauty and sacrifice, LAST ROMANTICS tells a poignant love story creating a vivid portrait of a world left behind by the modern age.

“MacLennan delivers a masterpiece."

— Capital Xtra

Playwrights Canada Press

Finalist - Governor General's Award 

Winner - Voaden National Playwriting Competition

Commissioned: The Shaw Festival

Adapted from the short story by Douglas Coupland with additional inspiration from his book City of Glass, LIFE AFTER GOD offers a lively and penetrating look at a generation raised without religion. Centering around an eccentric, sensitive man named Scout, the play tells the story of six friends who went to high school together - and how their lives unravel fifteen years later.

Facing the challenges and disillusionments of adulthood, the friends grapple with a new-found sense of emptiness in a culture stuck in fast-forward. At turns funny and moving, LIFE AFTER GOD is a free-wheeling, theatrically spectacular examination of our quest for transcendence, dressed up in a tour of the city of seismic shifts - Vancouver.

Commissioned Touchstone Theatre

Playwrights Canada Press