Debbie Islitt wrote this play in 1991. It’s quite of it time in some ways; a passive aggressive feminist rant. It is also extremely clever and theatrical - holding off telling us the husband in question is a cheating, chauvinistic, carnivorous caveman - rather it shows us and leaves us to come to our own conclusions ahead of the female characters putting two and two together. Supposedly one evening someone shouted from the audience after a particularly cruel and personal rant of his to and about his wife - ‘kill him now!’ Now that is the sort of response writers dream of!
Basically, we are told the story of the breakdown of Kenneth’s marriage to the perfect housewife and cook, Hilary, through his affair with and marriage to Laura, who is a much more modern woman who feels he should share in the housework and cannot cook. The story is told in a non-linear fashion, directly to us as well as by showing us flashbacks with all three sharing the role of narrator although Hilary and Kenneth are the main storytellers. Hilary starts and we first meet the others when she is having them over for dinner to celebrate their third wedding anniversary. That’s the first odd thing. Then she refuses to say what the main course is except ‘a surprise!’
The dialogue is fast furious and almost poetic in its wordplay and particular choice of words often to do with food and eating. It is a tight three-hander with none of the three hardly ever leaving the stage for more than a few moments for ninety minutes straight through with no interval. It is also extremely funny.
In this particular production director Colette Dockery and Assistant Director Rob Ellis have created a tightly compact production and ensemble of three actors, as it requires strong physicality, mime (as no props were used at all) and a great deal of intimacy and trust between them. As wife and mistress respectively, Gemma-May Bowles as Hilary and Harriet Wilkinson as Laura fitted their roles perfectly and ideally complemented William Baltyn as Kenneth, creating a beautifully orchestrated and harmonised (or dis-harmonised more correctly!) trio.
One memorable moment was when Kenneth acted out for the audience’s benefit, the difficulty (cue very small violin) of his life in trying to keep both his wife, mistress and workplace, happy. He ran up and down the steps between the two sections of the platform and hysterically mimed being jostled on the underground, having sex with his lover and enjoying a lovingly prepared meal by his wife.
The set by Phillip Ley and costumes by Sheila Burbidge worked well together and added spectacularly yet simply, to the production. I had wondered how such a small cast play written for a small space would fill the Bridewell stage but the simple backdrop of a red and green jigsaw with Hilary’s side being green with her dressed in green and Laura’s side red and her bright red dress, added to and enhanced the themes and the scale of the play. Setting them on a platform also helped make it slightly more intimate as well as fill the space. It also created the necessity for the steps between the two women’s spaces for Kenneth to run up and down.
The sound by Rob Ellis and the lighting design by Laurence Tuerk also added to the complex simplicity of the production and I must compliment the sound and light operators, Shameen Martin and Penny Tuerk for their team work and timing. There was no room for any slips or mis-timings on such a simple and bare set with only three actors and I saw and heard none.
Unlike some of the recent Tower productions which have been extremely well executed but divided audience over their style and content, I have heard nothing against this one at all. The play was funny, clever and although it dealt with difficult issues such as chauvinism, feminism, extra-marital affairs, divorce and revenge, it did it in an extremely inoffensive way without shocking. Well done to Ms Dockery for choosing it and to herself, her cast and crew for such a simple and slick production.
