The Five Wives of Maurice Pinder

Synopsis

The Five Wives of Maurice Pinder takes a provocative look at married life, and the alternatives. No family photograph can truly prepare Rowena for her first meeting with Maurice’s three wives and teenaged son. Young, nervous and extremely pregnant, she is warmly welcomed into the fold but her presence soon has the family questioning the nature of their delicate balance. Then Fay brings home a one-night stand, with far-reaching consequences for them all.

Our Review:

21 June 2007

You do wonder about the reality in the lives of polyamorous public figures such as Hugh Hefner cavorting (still?) with his blonde bunny girls in the Playboy Mansion, or the Marquis of Bath, priapic pacifier of a horde of hippie “wifelets” in Longleat.

Are these men sex machines or merely men who love women to the point of idolatry? Matt Charman’s new play in the Cottesloe posits the latter theory in the case of a south London scaffolding impresario, Maurice Pinder (Larry Lamb), an open-minded free-liver who keeps vows that he made in the kitchen rather than the church.

His first wife of 32 years, Esther (Sorcha Cusack), is the domestic rock and bookkeeper. Second wife Fay (Clare Holman) is a telesales worker with a sideline in prostitution. In a caravan in the garden, third wife Lydia (Martina Laird) is a dietician for old people and a spiritual healer with itchy feet.

The play is energised by the new arrival, heavily pregnant Rowena (Carla Henry), wit...

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Latest User Review

Gareth James - 15 August 2007:

Though I'm not sure this play 'goes anywhere', and I'm a bit puzzled as to why he choose to write it, I have to say it held my attention and it intrigued and entertained me. It is well wrtitten, the design is terrific and the performances uniformly good. I'm not really sure why there seems to be such a downer on it - it may not be a wow, but it's a perfectly acceptable new play....

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