Any Given Day

by Linda McLean

Any Given Day explores our fear of the unknown, and our guilt and responsibility towards ourselves and others. As Sadie and Bill prepare for their favorite visitor, Jackie finds herself facing a big day that she never anticipated.

"An excellent play which truly does horrify on so many levels." Independent

Genres: Plays

88 pages, Paperback

First published May 1, 2012

Reviews

[Doug · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5, rounded up.

Whiffs of both Beckett and Pinter abound, but McLean is her own strange kettle of fish. The Act 1 concluding scene is probably one of the most vicious and impossible to stage ones I've ever read. And for some reason, I kept picturing the luminescent Olivia Colman as Jackie in Act 2, although she didn't do the play originally. Wish I'd seen the local production in SF a decade ago.

https://www.theguardian.com/stage/201...
https://www.sfgate.com/performance/ar...

[Adrian Ross · Rating 1 out of 5]

This is a script of two halves. Play One is looping chat, mostly very short lines, between two adults with learning disabilities. It's more or less Waiting for Jackie, apart from a nasty violent hate crime at the end. Play Two sees barmaid Jackie and her boss in a bar. She reflects on sex, nursing, empathy, parenting and her ritualistic visits to the pair from the first half, one of whom is a relative. Now that relative has been attacked, her flatmate's locked out and Jackie's decided to do a Godot. The End. If I'd paid to see this as an evening out, my shopping list, to do list and even my bucket list would be complete (though, sadly, more experiences of this ilk would not be on it).

[Lou · Rating 2 out of 5]

2,5

[Harry McDonald · Rating 4 out of 5]

Two playlets on isolation and obligation and the terror that comes with both. McLean is a playwright that sits alongside Churchill and Kane for me for her plays' forms and their linguistic dexterity, but the end of Play One is probably the closest she ever comes to a moment of Kane-esque horror.