The Odd Couple (female version)

The original play “The Odd Couple” was written by Neil Simon and was first produced on Broadway in 1965, the story centred on two men both with very different characters sharing a Now York apartment. Simon then adapted the play in 1985 to feature a pair of female roommates (Florence Unger and Olive Madison) and called it “The Female Odd Couple”. In this story we find Florence is completely devastated at the braking up of her ten year marriage so she goes over to Olive's apartment to see her friends who meet every week for a game of Trivial Pursuit. Olive is fearful that Florence might attempt suicide so she invites her to move in to her apartment. Olive is a bit of a slob and has an easy-going outlook on life but very soon Florence drives Olive crazy with her constant neurotic cleaning and cooking. Florence is depressed so Olive tries her best to snap her out of it by arranging a double date with two suave Spanish brothers Manolo and Jesus Costazuela who live upstairs in their apartment block with hilarious consequences, Olive soon regrets her decision to ask Florence to move in with her as obviously the two living together was a big mistake.

This was St Michael’s ADS first play for some time, and I must congratulate the company on producing a very enjoyable comedy production with some very good performances from the cast which included Ruth McLoughlin and June Dowd who both were excellent in the two important central roles of Olive Madison and Florence Unger. They were very different characters and the two actors got those spot on, they also worked very well together which was very important to the success of this play. They were well supported by the actors in the smaller roles which included Ann Wasley as Renée, Michelle Kenny as Sylvie, Susan Bass-Heatley as Mickey and Kristina Santos as Vera who played the friends that meet weekly at Olive’s apartment to play Trivial Pursuits.Other roles included two very funny performances by Anthony Mason and Steve Coats as the Spanish brothers Manolo and Jesus Costazuela Olive and Florence’s neighbours. There was some brilliant comic timing produced by the actors which along with very good diction and clarity of the words meant the audience could follow the story easily. Generally American accents were respectable and were maintained throughout the performance, however there were a few prompts taken and the pace was a little slow at the beginning of the play but happily it picked up as the performance progressed, and I am glad to say this did not affect the audiences or my enjoyment of the play.

The set, props, sound and lighting and costumes were excellent and enhanced the production, so well done to the stage manager, set builders, technical crew and all the backstage crew.

Congratulations to Director Peter Dowd for a very enjoyable entertaining play, well done to everyone involved in the production including front of house staff and thank you for inviting us, I hope to see you again for your next production.

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