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| The World's Wife |
THE wonderful work of Carol Ann Duffy had escaped me until this week when the Company of Ten put on The World's Wife as part of its current mini-season at the Abbey Theatre.
This is poetry as it should be enjoyed - recited by a talented team of women with every nuance brought out of Carol Ann Duffy's marvellous verse, clever emphasis on words and phrases and the whole evening interspersed with appropriate songs and music.
Even if you don't like poetry or feel Carol Ann Duffy is too anti-men, then the production is worth seeing for Jill Priest's version of Elvis Presley's Blue Suede Shoes alone.
In fact The World's Wife pokes gentle fun at the male sex by looking at life through the eyes of the wives or female associates of famous men - thus we have a cast which ranges from Mrs Faust and Queen Herod to Mrs Quasimodo and The Kray Sisters.
It is a witty and well-researched idea and the result is a slick and polished production in the Abbey Theatre Studio, directed by Margaret Metcalf who is also one of the six women taking part.
Carol Ann Duffy wrote The World's Wife from the premise of how differently women go about things and there are some real classics here.
Take Mrs Midas - brilliantly performed by Charonne Boulton - and how she copes with everything her husband touches turning to gold, or Mrs Faust - an equally impressive performance by Kate Rainsford - who benefits from everything her husband gains by selling his soul and then reminds the audience that there is a sting in the tail.
Jill Priest, whose range of songs and versatile voice is a high spot of the production, is a memorable Salome and Margaret Metcalf is a hoot as Eurydice, who does not want to follow her husband Orpheus out of the Underworld, and Mrs Freud giving her views on penis envy.
Rachel Metcalf's short and sweet Mrs Darwin stands out as does Lesley Gordon's Pygmalion's Bride. At the piano and keyboard throughout is Brigid Hodges who arranged the music - and does a very good job.
The World's Wife is interspersed with Neil LaBute's Bash and a re-run of three of Alan Bennett's Talking Heads - always worth seeing - during the mini-season which runs until the end of next week.
There are three more performances of The World's Wife before the end of the run - Friday 27 April, Wednesday May 3, and Friday May 5. Further details and tickets can be obtained from the Abbey Theatre box office on 01727 857861.
MADELEINE BURTON
© Herts Advertiser 2006. Reproduced by permission