Dorothy L Sayers is not primarily known as a playwright. Better celebrated as a novelist, she wrote this battle-of-the-sexes comedy of manners in 1940 and it is through no fault of this production that its laughter lacks bite.
Bestselling romance writer Godfrey (Alan Cox) has left his apparently dull wife, Edith (Leah Whitaker), for a talented young actor, Lydia (Emily Barber). We find the couple languishing in Venice – she is bored and he is blocked in his writing, though insists Lydia still provides creative inspiration. Both embark on secret trips away: Godfrey to demand a divorce from Edith only to discover she has transformed into a celebrity writer, and Lydia to reinvigorate her stage career, which brings her into her own face-off with Edith.
