Downstage Theatre
May 30-June 28 | Reviewed by Helen Sims

My Brilliant Divorce is a one woman play that tells the story of Angela Kennedy Lipsky, recently ditched by her husband in favour of a younger, more exotic model. It ostensibly tells of her struggle through the first few years of ‘singledom’ after spending the majority of her adulthood identified as wife and mother. I think it is supposed to be empowering. Personally I thought it was the opposite. The play is littered with bad and sometimes offensive clichés and stereotypes. It is only near the end, when Angela finally captures another man that she is happy again. (Sorry if I’ve ruined the ending there, but you can see it coming a mile off so I haven’t done a huge disservice.). I found myself feeling far more sympathetic towards Angela’s ex-husband and nest-flown daughter – I’d have left her too.

Ginette McDonald performs the role well, although she had a few slips in her lines on the night I attended which gave the production a slightly unpolished air. Dawn French has played the role in the Apollo in London. The problem is that I suspect that even if the performance was Oscar worthy I would still have not enjoyed this play.

A preliminary issue for me was that the play felt incredibly derivative – it reeks of Bridget Jones for the middle aged. Laughs are cheap – the biggest one comes from sheltered Angela’s escapade in a sex shop. Again, I found myself thinking – no wonder her husband left her. Secondly, the play exploits as many convenient gags and clichés as it can for laughs. The inherent snobbery in the character comes across at several points; most pointedly when she assumes a stereotypical Mexican accent to mimic her cleaner. The “gays”, immigrants and working class trash all come in for objectification by the ex-Mrs Kennedy Lipsky. It all serves to diminish sympathy for her even further. A brief moment of sincerity comes from the complicated relationship she has with her ageing and ailing mother, but it does little to outweigh the rest of the play. The play seems to retreat whenever it comes close to any moment of pathos or absurdity, which makes it uninspiringly flat in terms of an emotional landscape.

Finally, feminism seems to have passed Mrs Kennedy Lipsky by – bereft of the roles of wife and mother poor Angela doesn’t know what to do with herself. It seems that is all she can do, aside from dressing the shop dummies in the window of a charity shop and moaning. It’s a mixed message – despite her supposed newfound liberation she is entirely incomplete … until she shacks up with a new man. The play says something quite unattractive about the conservatism and dependent tendencies of Western middle aged women – something I would strongly object to if I was one of them. But they all seemed to find it hilarious. Personally I was taking mental notes of what to strive against.

The design of the play is an almost redeeming element. John Harding (who is also the director) departed from the direction in the script for a blank stage with a chair, setting it instead in the shop window of an Oxfam opportunity shop (the symbolism was not missed.) This creates visual interst. In terms of Harding’s direction, it was relatively uninspired. The play did not need an interval and I thought could have been improved by being a snappy 90 minutes (although that may be motivated by my boredom). I wasn’t entirely sure if the monologue was meant to be addressed to the dummies or the audience – either way we are convenient captive listeners for her complaints. Sound and lighting design (by Gil Eva Craig and Lisa Maule respectively) are solid, if not wildly creative, although they suit the show.

Maybe I’m the wrong age for this play – after all, I’m not even married yet. Looking around at the rest of the audience it was fairly clear I’m not the target demographic. After taking a look at reviews overseas my suspicions were confirmed – despite Dawn French’s performance being reportedly excellent in the production of My Brilliant Divorce at the Apollo, it did little to redeem the play for ‘alternative’ (read younger) reviewers (see the review on indielondon.co.uk as an example). But even saying that, I have enjoyed and been touched by plays that relate the stories and concerns of the middle aged before. If you are looking for insight or a challenging piece of theatre then My Brilliant Divorce would be best avoided. If, however you would like to see theatre conveniently packaged for mass consumption, then look no further. If it is proving a success commercially for Downstage the I suppose that is good in terms of their fortunes. Personally, I am more than a little tired of this type of theatrical fare.