Wife Begins at Forty

Synopsis

Forty is a rather traumatic age. For Linda Harper, it certainly appears to be, dissatisfied spiritually and physically with her seventeen-year-marriage to the slightly staid George, Linda decides to leave. In fact it is George who moves out, giving Linda a chance to "find herself" through a variety of curses including aerobics and sculpting. When George returns to the family home a few weeks later to sort out maintenance arrangements with the help of neighbours Roger and Betty, however, he and Linda discover the flames of passion are not quite dead, albeit in need of a little fanning.

Our Review:

Roz Carter - 24 April 2012

Set in a suburban home in 1985, Wife Begins at Forty centres around Linda and George Harper who are fast approaching their 17th wedding anniversary. Bored with their routine and lack of sex life, Linda decides to leave George and start again – while trying to juggle her doddering father-in-law, teenage son and barmy neighbours. Although humorous, the play bills itself as a farce rather than the gentle comedy that it is and so falls flat as far as inducing any belly-aching laughs is concerned.

The problem with farce for me is that it can often feel as though the first act is simply there to set up the dominoes that will inevitably fall in the second. A little drab to begin with, the action (and audience’s interest) really gets going in the second act during a booze-filled meeting on Christmas Eve. As soon as the first drop of whisky hits the glass, the laughs start to pour. Brian Godfrey’s direction means that at times it does feel like laugh-by-numbers...

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