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Home, I’m Darling

28th February 2023 - 4th March 2023

 

Bill Kenwright presents

LAURA WADE’S

HOME, I’M DARLING

Winner of the 2019 Olivier Award for Best New Comedy 

Following sold-out seasons at the National Theatre and in the West End, Laura Wade’s Olivier Award-winning comedy embarks on its first UK tour.

How happily married are the happily married?

Every couple needs a little fantasy to keep their marriage sparkling. But behind the gingham curtains, things start to unravel, and being a domestic goddess is not as easy as it seems…

BAFTA-winner Jessica Ransom (Doc Martin, Armstrong and Miller, Horrible Histories), Diane Keen (Doctors, The Cuckoo Waltz) and Neil McDermott (EastEnders, The Royal) lead the cast in this thought-provoking new comedy by Laura Wade (Posh/The Riot Club) about one woman’s quest to be the perfect 1950s housewife.

Home, I’m Darling received its World Premiere at Theatr Clwyd in 2018, before running at the National Theatre and transferred to the Duke of York’s theatre in the West End, winning the 2019 Olivier Award for Best New Comedy. This production reunites the original creative team, led by Theatre Clwyd Artistic Director and Co-Director Designate of the Royal Shakespeare Company, Tamara Harvey. It is co-directed by Hannah Noone, with design by Olivier award-winner Anna Fleischle, lighting by Lucy Carter, sound design by Tom Gibbons and choreography by Charlotte Broom.

★★★★★ ‘An amusing, affecting, inspiring evening of soft gingham and hard truths’ The Times
★★★★ ‘A cracking new play.’ Mail on Sunday 
★★★★ ‘Sharp, funny and sad.’ The Independent 
★★★★★ ‘Fizzes with Energy.’ Evening Standard

Running Time: 2 Hours 20 (Including Interval)

Details

Start:
28th February 2023
End:
4th March 2023
Event Categories:
,

Venue

Festival Theatre
Grange Road
Malvern, WR14 3HB

Other

Price:
Tues-Thurs eves & Sat mat: £39.20, £35.84, £32.48, £29.12 & £25.76
Wed & Thurs mats: £36.96, £33.60, £30.24, £26.88 & £23.52
Fri & Sat eves: £42.56, £39.20, £35.84, £32.48 & £29.12
Members discounts apply
Concessions £2off
Prices include 12% booking fee
Show Times:
Tuesday 28th February to Saturday 4th March
Evenings at 7.30pm
Wednesday, Thursday and Saturday matinees at 2.30pm

Event Reviews

  • Tim

    Really enjoyed this last night and gave us lots to talk about as a couple on the drive home. Visually great and a feast for the eyes for anyone who laments the passing of the Cath Kidston shops. Worrying how many songs from the soundtrack based on the fifties I knew as a child of the sixties. Only slight thing was the timing of the dialogue was a bit off in patches, mainly between the mother and other cast members.

  • View From the Stalls

    ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ Funny, clever and evocative of a different time

    The set which greets audiences in Theatr Clwyd/National Theatre's production of Home, I'm Darling is certainly very impressive, covering virtually an entire 2-storey house, rather like a doll's house whose front has been opened up. Moreover, the property has a very distinct look - that of the 1950s (which I suspect many of the audience will remember vividly) which wouldn't look out of place in an episode of I Love Lucy (sorry kids, that was where domestic sitcoms really started!). And then arrives the lady of the house, Judy, dancing around to the sound of Mr Sandman in a pretty 50's dress as she sets about doing her daily chores, apparently with great relish. But then something odd happens. She sits down at the kitchen table - and opens her laptop…All is therefore very much not as it seems in this household. Judy (Jessica Ransom, most recently seen as Morwenna in Doc Martin) is, along with doting hubby Johnny (Neil McDermott) clearly not of the era being portrayed. It is, effectively, a lifestyle choice that she/they have made following her redundancy from a high-flying job. Her response - go back to an era where the woman was content playing the role of dutiful housewife, following a book which described how to plan her day and whose job was to clean, clean, clean, keep those shirts ironed, cook dinner and make sure drinks and her husband's slippers were ready for when he got home. The couple are, apparently, "awfully… sickeningly happy". She even gets her best friend Fran (Cassie Bradley) to sample the experience though it remains to be seen if her other half Marcus (Matthew Douglas) will approve.

    Things do seem to be going swimmingly until… Well, until the sort of thing that happens in marriages across the decades. Financial problems (she earned more than her husband) and infidelity (at least, perceived). And this light frothy colourful comedy takes on a much darker, more contemporary mood as life emulating the idyllic 50's comes crashing down. This is no surprise to Judy's mother Sylvia (Diane Keen) - after all, she actually lived through that period, fought hard against sexual and social injustices and is therefore well placed to bring a few home truths to her daughter, including revelations about her late father. The other character in the show is Alex (Shanez Pattni) who plays Johnny's boss and who has passed him over for promotion and is therefore the cause of some of the friction.

    The play, by Laura Wade, won an Olivier Award for Best New Comedy in 2019 and it's not hard to see why. The combination of replicating a post-war period of recovery with all of its hope and colour, the music of that era, the clash between that and modern day life and the desire to get away from it, is a heady one. Moving effortless between comedy and much more serious matters works very well indeed, leaving you to wonder whether the couple can continue "living the dream" or whether they will be grounded by their inevitable problems.

    In addition to the wonderful set and costume design by Anna Fleischle, the choice of music is appropriate and indeed amplified by its use in some of the most imaginative scene changes (carried out by Bradley and Douglas) that you will ever see.

    A funny, clever, evocative and moreover thought-provoking show with a great cast.

  • Showtime!

    Don't go to see this fabulous play if you think the exchanges will draw heavily from familiar feminist polemic that inevitably mirrors an accepted official line.

    No. Writer Laura Wade is far too subtle and perceptive a writer to fall into the shouty-group-think trap, even if the opening scenes do seem to be heading in that direction.

    To be sure, the setting is so 1950s one could be forgiven for thinking that they’d gone through some portal to the past. Ghastly wallpaper shouts so loud that the noise is positively deafening, while the relentless primary colours of the kitchen furniture send the senses reeling.

    Do you remember that beef cubes advert in which the ever obliging and immaculately dressed Katie serves up perfect meals to the kind of perfect husband that never existed, not even in the official history of husbands?

    Well, Anna Fleischie’s set positively oozes the period, right down to the porcelain chicken, under which no doubt a Hovis wholemeal resides, waiting for the bread knife to strike.

    Thus far, we can all luxuriate in the post-war appalling taste, self-assuredly giggling at the sheer datedness of it all. Those were the bad old days, eh?

    And it doesn’t take long for things to start falling apart, slowly crumbling like one of the aforesaid Katie’s stale Oxo cubes that has been lying about in the bottom of the cupboard for far too long. Oh yes, there will soon be trouble in paradise.

    Jessica Ransom as Judy certainly seems to have done her homework along with all that housework. She’s plainly been consulting perfect housewife adverts from 1950s editions of Woman’s Own as she attends to husband Johnny (Neil McDermott) every evening when he returns from a hard day at the office.

    Thankfully, Laura Wade wisely refrains from turning him into an alpha male, thereby avoiding a cliché that a lesser writer might plump for.

    Meanwhile, lurking in the background – and ready to load her daughter’s gun – is Sylvia (Diane Keen) who slowly but surely starts to create doubts that the situation is any less than perfect.

    What prevents this play from being a formulaic satire is Wade’s clever tactic of moving the action from the past to the present, hence the abrupt appearance of mobile phones and a laptop in the middle of all the period stuff.

    From the relatively mild, paternalistic misogyny of the 1950s, we suddenly find ourselves dropped from a great height into the present and all its contradictions, in which unlimited vulgarity and the new woke puritanism are seemingly quite content to exist side by side.

    So… is that male hand on the female shoulder a friendly gesture - and nothing more - or is this inappropriate behaviour and a perfectly good reason to destroy someone’s career?

    Of course, back in the 1950s, such an incident might go unremarked. These days and it could lead to someone’s whole life going down the toilet.

    Director Tamara Harvey has done sterling work in facilitating a superbly entertaining, yet thought-provoking piece of theatre, and I can thoroughly recommend it.

    Presented by Bill Kenwright, Home, I’m Darling is a Theatr Clwyd and National Theatre production.

  • Curtain Call Reviews

    "An enjoyable couple of hours at the theatre"

    Does living in a bygone age make a person happier? That was the question posed by Judy (Jessica Ransom) and Johnny (Neil McDermott) in Home, I’m Darling, a play by Laura Wade under the direction of Tamara Harvey.

    As I enter the auditorium the stage is filled with the inside of a house decorated with a true 1950’s style, down to every last detail thanks to set designer Anna Fleischle. You are instantly transported back in time and fully believe the play to be set in that era.

    Judy (Jessica Ransom) and her husband Johnny (Neil McDermott) share breakfast that she has lovingly prepared as the ‘Stepford housewife’ she is. They talk over breakfast of their undying and unwavering love for each other in a rather sickly sweet way and the perfect life they live is thrown straight at you. Ransom and McDermott work extremely well together as the married couple, with fantastic chemistry during both the happy and sad moments of their marriage.

    As Johnny leaves for work, with his lunchbox packed with care by Judy who waves him off at the doorstep, you still believe that they are living in the 1950’s, that is however until Judy sits down at the kitchen table and opens a laptop. It is not until then that you realise, they are living in the modern day, but with the values of the 1950’s lifestyle which includes the way they are dressed.

    The story follows the couple as they navigate trying to live a life with old fashioned values, whilst trying to negotiate the modern life. There is a real juxtaposition with other characters entering the house dressed as we would now. Judy’s mother Sylvia (Diane Keen) was the voice of reason throughout the play trying her best to navigate her daughter away from this way of life and trying to explain that it wasn’t all a bed of roses as she believes it to be.

    It is not until Act 2 that we understand how this way of life was introduced into the couple’s life, with the opening of this act providing a flashback to when Judy took voluntary redundancy. They decided that they could afford it if she was to remain at home and be a housewife whilst Johnny continued with his job as an Estate Agent. It was always apparent that Judy was the driving force in this lifestyle, however we never really understood why she felt that this was the way of life she strived for. There were many moments of doubt, as to who she was and why she wanted the 1950’s life and the feeling that it was more of a mask and that she was hiding from certain aspects of her life, again it was unclear why she felt this way.

    Friends of the couple, Fran (Cassie Bradley) and Marcus (Matthew Douglas) also shared their love of the 50’s era, however not to the same extent. Each time they appeared on stage they danced along to some classic rock n’ roll songs from that time and each time a scene change happened we were also treated to some fantastic music including ‘Mr Sandman’, ‘Why Must I Be a Teenager In Love’ and ‘Peggy Sue’.

    There were various trials and tribulations played out, including Judy hiding the fact that they were struggling financially and that she had used all the money left to her by her father due to Johnny earning less because of his underperformance at work. There was also the introduction of new work boss Alex (Shanez Pattni) who catches Johnny’s eye whilst he is out in the modern world. Judy slowly starts to break down and questions whether the life she wants to lead is her destiny. After a lot of soul searching the couple decide that they should share the responsibilities within the house and not be as transfixed with a way of life that perhaps isn’t achievable.

    This play was enjoyable with some funny moments, and it showed that there is no such thing as the perfect life. All performances were polished, and the dialogue was free flowing. An enjoyable couple of hours at the theatre.

  • West End Best Friend

    Following sold-out performances at the National Theatre and in the West End, and having won an Olivier Award for Best New Comedy, Home, I’m Darling is now embarking on a UK tour.

    Written by Laura Wade and directed by Tamara Harvey, Home, I’m Darling tells the story of one woman’s quest to be the perfect 1950’s housewife. Except it is not the 1950’s anymore and is it plausible that this concept is both practical and positive for the age of the noughties.

    Jessica Ransom plays Judy, married to Johnny (Neil McDermott). She is the epitome of housewife chic, preparing her husband’s meals, cocktails and running a ship shape house. Played impeccably with an air of ‘Stepford Wife’ and a touch of The Truman Show. McDermott is equally impressive, with an inkling of wanting to fit in with the modern world, whilst desperately trying not to admit it to himself or anyone else around him.

    Cassie Bradley as Fran (Judy’s best friend) supplies comic relief as she tries to encourage her friend in her quest, whilst also hiding the persona of a swearing, modern thinker, and Diane Keen as Sylvia (Judy’s mum) is delightful as she strives to make her daughter face the reality that her ‘lifestyle’ is setting women back after fighting so hard to gain their equal rights.

    It’s a cleverly written script, delivered brilliantly by the complete cast which makes this production entertaining and captivating throughout. With intricate set and costume design by Anna Fleischle, transporting us into Judy’s world, it is easy to see why the lure of the retro era is so gripping.

    It shows us just how far some principles have evolved and how some attitudes have clearly not!

    Charming, relatable, and evocative.

  • Weekend Notes - Alison Brinkworth

    Picking up an Olivier Award for Best New Comedy in 2019, Home I'm Darling is finally embarking on its long-awaited first UK tour.

    I caught it at Malvern Theatres where it stays for a week until Saturday, March 4. An intriguing lavish set greets theatre-goers with a full house resplendent in 1950s decor.

    There's a retro soundtrack to match, which keeps the drama fizzing along as fast as the jive some actors do between scenes. It all feels very Doris Day and Rock Hudson until something seems amiss about what era we are actually in.

    Laura Wade has come up with an enthralling quirky tale about a young couple doing a marriage project to live a 1950s lifestyle in modern times. That includes the kitchen equipment, clothes, car and most importantly the outdated gender stereotypes.

    It's clever, multi-layered and pacy as the reasons behind the decision become apparent. There's enthusiastic housewife Judy, played by BAFTA award-winning Jessica Ransom, living out her fantasy while her husband Johnny(Neil McDermott) starts to waiver on the whole idea.

    The pair have good chemistry that helps the play feel believable in its own bizarre way. It also flips expectations on its head about who ends up revelling in the situation the most.

    Adding some normality is Judy's mum Sylvia - an instantly recognisable Diane Keen from decades of TV dramas including Minder and New Tricks, pictured below left. Normal in the sense that she brought her daughter up in a feminist commune near Brighton and is aghast at the idea of Judy spending all day in a pinny.

    Most of all, this joint production from Theatr Clwyd and The National Theatre is very funny. It sizzles with originality and feels refreshing as it tackles some of the often unspoken truths about feeling nostalgic.

    Beautifully put together, the play is seamless and choreographed to perfection. The two leads even deserve bonus points for often acting while eating.

    Among the small multi-tasking cast, Cassie Bradley and Matthew Douglas as friends Fran and Marcus do some nifty dance routines between segments too.

    Scintillating, sincere and a brilliant fast-paced sharp comedy, Home I'm Darling is an unmissable joy.


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