A Round-Heeled Woman

Synopsis

Jane Juska placed an ad in The New York Review of Books which said "Before I turn 67 - next March - I would like to have a lot of sex with a man I like. If you want to talk first, Trollope works for me". She received 63 replies, from men aged between 32 and 84. A Round-Heeled Woman tells the real-life adventures of some of the encounters which resulted. Jane's courageous journey takes her through falling in love, some heartbreak, rejection and humiliation, a lot of laughs, and her first orgasm with a man after 30 years. The play deals with the universally engaging themes of love, loss, personal empowerment, and the wisdom which comes with the passing years. And yes ... sex.

Our Review:

1 December 2011

“Before I turn 67 – next March – I would like to have a lot of sex with a man I like. If you want to talk first, Trollope works for me.”

So read the ad in the personals column of the New York Review of Books in 1999. After 30 years of a life full of teaching English literature to students from all walks of life – and 30 years of celibacy – the new emptiness weighed heavily on Jane Juska.

So she decided to grab life with both hands – and placed this daring ad in her favourite periodical. She received 63 responses, and so embarked upon a series of adventures with men. Eccentrics, losers, users – but also a nice guy or two. In the end, what you realise, is that you can have anything in life, but not everything.

Sharon Gless, playing Juska, glows on stage. Her warm persona makes her slightly kooky character endearing, and charms us into forgiving a few traits which,...

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Latest User Review

David Baxter - 6 January 2012:

An elderly woman talking about sex - on the face of it this seemed an unlikely choice but I was emboldened by some pretty good reviews and a substantial discount offer. Frankly a lot of it is cringingly embarrassing although it seemed to be appreciated by ladies of a certain age in the audience. What did prove to be of more interest were the back stories of Jane Juska's upbringing and her relationship with her son and, unlike many others, I quite liked the appearances of Miss MacGregor from a Trollope novel, serving as a counterpoint to Jane's misguided search for sex when what she really needed was intimacy. However a lot of that back story seems to have been carefully air-brushed and there are little more than hints about addictions to food, drink and drugs which contributed to her estrangement from her son. Similarly, even though it is based on a true story, the ending seems unrealistically rose-tinted. There is good support from Beth Cordingly and Michael Thomson but of course the play is dominated by Sharon Gless as Jane. She is terrific and uninhibited and establishes a genuine rapport with the audience even if I suspect her Jane is considerably more likeable than the real-life version. An oddity perhaps, but I suspect it could keep Gless busy taking this to audiences around the world for as long as she chooses....

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