The Old Man and the Pool
by Mike Birbiglia

Broadway
The Old Man and the Pool Book Cover
The Old Man and the Pool Cover

Highlights

75 mins Present Day Strong Role for Leading Man (Star Vehicle) Bare Stage/Simple Set Contemporary Costumes/Street Clothes Comedy

Synopsis

A tale of life, death and a highly chlorinated YMCA pool.

Award-winning comedian and storyteller Mike Birbiglia’s “coming-of-middle-age story” is a hilarious reminder for all of us recovering from failing bodies and a flailing world that laughter is indeed the best medicine.

Press Reviews

"A show that’s about swimming and making people laugh about bodies, but it’s mostly about our need to laugh about death. And it’s beautiful: exquisitely written, performed and designed, with all of Birbiglia’s characteristic ear for tone and rhythm... All anecdotes and metaphors click neatly into one another; all the stories build and coalesce and flow from one event to the next."

— Vulture

"A rumination on severe obstacles which ought not be funny but, in the author’s telling, are positively side-splitting."

— New York Stage Review

"A tight, perfectly constructed 85 minutes... a very real insight into mortality, health and the fragility of life – and, most poignantly, the tenuousness of our connections to those we love."

— Deadline

"Delightful... Birbiglia doesn’t bend toward sentimentality. When it comes to matters of the heart, poetic and cardiovascular, he simply suggests chains of family history can be broken."

— New York Theatre Guide

"The latest Mike check-up, the funny and endearing The Old Man and the Pool, dives back into questions of life and death, delivered with a goofy gallows grin that helps the medicine go down."

— Time Out NY

Characters

Character
Mike

Videos

The Old Man and the Pool – Opening Night Celebration at Lincoln Center

Publication

Publisher Samuel French
ISBN-13 9780573711602
ISBN-10 0573711607

The Old Man and the Pool is a comedy play written by Mike Birbiglia and published by Samuel French .

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Performance Rights

Available for Licensing
Professional Only
Fee: Minimum Fee: $120 per performance
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