In this third volume of his collected plays Torben Betts portrays a world of floundering, sub-alpha males and suicidally miserable women, of bullying parents, torturous childhoods and failing relationships, characters all baffled by the most basic question: how do we live good lives and be happy in the modern world? Set on Guy Fawke's Night The Optimist (2002) concerns a Government Defence Minister who must face up to the consequences of the choices he has made, both professionally and personally. The Swing of Things (2005) hilariously examines a world where status anxiety and affluenza seem to have corrupted the soul of a whole generation. In The Company Man (2006) a dying woman's last night is marred by the conflict between her accomplished yet emotionally damaged husband and their deeply troubled son.