Wife Begins at 40, Theatre Royal, Winchester
GENERALLY, I love undemanding comedies. Anything which allows you to mentally compose a shopping list, grab a quick power-nap and fondly recall Robin's Nest can only be a good thing.
Foolishly, perhaps, I expected a little more of Wife Begins at 40. It is, after all, by Ray Cooney. But on the evidence of this revival of his Eighties hit, I don't think time has done his work any favours.
The story revolves around the foundering marriage of middle-aged couple George (David Griffin) and Linda (Judy Buxton). She wants more sex and excitement, while he hates anything that disrupts his cosy routine. So what to do? She goes all Shirley Valentine-ish and books herself up for various night classes. He moves out of the house and looks miserable.
The whole point of a farce, I thought, was to cause laughter by flirting dangerously with the outrageous and the taboo. In this one, a husband and wife are almost caught having sex in their own house and someone gets squirted with soda water. It was as shocking as Noel's House Party.
The cast do a decent job, and some people found the whole thing hilarious, but overall I wasn't impressed. It's certainly cured me of my desire to live in Surrey.
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