Reader Reviews
When We Are Married (Garrick Theatre, West End)
Back to Show Details| Score | Comment | Date |
 | I felt like I’d gate-crashed a party. The rest of the audience was clapping entrances & exits and whooping & cheering lines and performances. The set looked like one of those period rooms in a museum – ‘Victorian Mill Owners Parlour, 1908′ – which had come alive with all of these people in period costumes. I’ve seen the play twice before – in 1988 with Patricia Routledge, Prunella Scales and Patricia Hayes (who had been the maid in the original production 50 years earlier) and 14 years ago with Alison Steadman and Dawn French – but this time it seemed much more of a creaky old warhorse, the stuff of rep and tours that rarely gets into the West End but was paying a visit and had brought its provincial audience with it. It’s not very typical of Priestly, a playwright much more fond of moralistic pieces like An Inspector Calls. It’s a simple comedy about three couple who, on their silver anniversaries, discover their marriages may not be legal. It’s well structured and there are some funny lines, but it now seems insubstantial stuff – though in all fairness it was two nights after my second look at the extraordinary Clybourne Park. The chief pleasure – and I mean this affectionately not patronisingly or critically – is seeing a bunch of old pro’s like Roy Hudd, Sam Kelly, Lynda Baron and Maureen Lipman letting their hair down and having some late career fun; in the end this proved a bit infectious and I warmed to it (though that may have been the third glass of wine in the interval!). - Gareth James | 11 Feb 11 |
| Totally agree, it's amazing! - Joesmith | 21 Jan 11 |
| This is truly a wonderful production with an excellent cast. One of the best evenings had at the theatre this year. - ils | 19 Nov 10 |
| By 'eck, they don't make 'em like that any more. When We Are Married is a delightfully old fashioned drawing room comedy, given a respectful production played on an immaculate set of remarkable detail. A cast of mainly comedy veterans familiar from TV for over 40 years display superb comic timing bringing characters to life and although they are comedy stereotypes there is no sense of characterture. Unless it's very well hidden there is no deeper message or experiments with time shifting as in other Priestly plays recently revived; this is unashamed farce and it's good to see that there is still room in the West End for a genuine crowd pleaser. - David Baxter | 13 Nov 10 |
| This play was fabulous. I thoroughly enjoyed it and so did my two teenagers. The quality of the acting was superb and the comic timing was spot on. I would recommend this play to everyone. - L Harris | 07 Nov 10 |
| It is difficult to see how this production could have been better in terms of cast or production. I can only assume Michael Coveney doesn't actually like the play. A first class production with a top notch cast. - Richard Voyce | 07 Nov 10 |
| Saw this about 22 years ago and this revival is just as good adn just as fresh. Superb Set and when you have a cast as good as this, it all jells brilliantly and each actor/actress gave 100% and my favourite was Jodie McNee as the maid--very funny indeed. - Joe Spiteri | 28 Oct 10 |
| We saw the play in Guildford on Tuesday night. It was just SO funny and the set is brilliant. The cast are fantastic - excellent comic timing. I loved the maid (Jodie McNee) as we had seen her 3 times in Jonathan Harvey's new play "Canary". Maureen Lipman and Sam Kelly are hilarious. They were like a dream cast for me. We have booked to see it again on 18th November at the Garrick! - Paul T | 14 Oct 10 |
