Women on the Verge of HRT

The women are 'Vera' played by Marie Jones (who also wrote the play), and 'Anna' played by Eileen Pollock.

We find that 'Anna' is using her obsession with 'Daniel O'Donnell' as an escapism from her dull, non sex marriage. While in 'Vera's' case she is having problems coming to terms with getting older and losing her looks. When they get friendly with the waiter played by Dessie Gallagher , the women reveal their feeling and anxiety about themselves and their life now they are over 40.

Without doubt this is a rip off of Shirley Valentine, and a poor one at that! This comedy play starts off promising with some witty and intelligent lines, however it soon starts to lose it's momentum as the dialogue gets tired and then it basically turns in to a kind of feminist speech, particularly after the interval . We also had the cast breaking into song, and I can tell you not good songs at that. I think the author must have ran out of ideas and used the songs as a filler!

I'm sorry, but this is a poor play that really is not deserving of a West End run.

(Darren Dalglish)