Random Acts

By Diane Flacks

This fictional story of a motivational speaker who is pushed in front of a bus in a Random Act of violence explores issues of fate, the meaning behind suffering, love and our faith in cultural gurus. The play asks: how would this cynical wounded healer and her world of skeptics and seekers respond? Characters range from 90 year old Sarah, the biblical mother of the Jewish people, to 19 year old Jen, a street kid with interesting insight into randomness.

Toronto comic actress delivers a whirlwind collection of offbeat characters in a hilarious one-woman show.

Halifax Chronicle-Herald Halifax, NS

The way in which the characters flow back and forth throughout the piece, their struggles and the seamless performance by Flacks, who removes and adds characters like a series of second skins, firmly position this Toronto actor-writer as Canada’s answer to Lily Tomlin and Jane Wagner.

Variety, December 1997Mira Friedlander

NNNNN…A virtuosic, zaniness, zipping around her boxy stages like a sprite, spitting in the face of urban confusion… Flack’s power of observation and characterization are stunning.

Now Magazine Toronto, ON

What makes 'Random Acts' such a standout piece of theatre is its commitment to intelligence and quality. Flacks has written a deliciously cunning, thoroughly original piece.

Halifax Chronicle-Herald Halifax, NS

Flacks, who has an unerring ear for quirky vocal mannerisms, is the sharpest character comedian to come out of Canada since Mike Myers and, at its best, her writing can be both hilarious and acerbic.

The Calgary Herald Calgary, AB

Production Details

1 Female, Solo show

75 minutes

By Diane Flacks

Purchase Play Script

Production History

Diane’s third hit solo show was directed by Alisa Palmer. It toured across Canada to rave reviews and Diane adapted it for a CBC TV special.

Random Acts was published in a collection called Lesbian Plays: Coming of Age in Canada, published by Playwrights Canada Press, edited by Rosalind Kerr, 2006

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