A sharp, accessible comedy
Picture this: It’s the early 1900s and alongside two other couples, you’ve been married for a whopping 25 years. You gather together in celebration, and even the local paper has been called to mark the big day. But all is not as it seems. Turns out the minister who sealed the triple wedding was in fact not registered, rendering all three marriages null and void. Yikes! writes Evie Flynn.
This dilemma unfolds in J.B. Priestley’s brilliantly written and effortlessly comic play, When We Were Married, adapted here by the Donmar’s artistic director Tim Sheader. The story follows three Yorkshire couples as they are thrust into a frantic spiral of social damage control to keep their status in their small town.
The star-studded cast features leading ladies Siobhan Finneran as Maria Helliwell, Samantha Spiro as Clara Soppitt and Sophie Thompson as Annie Parker, the unfortunately newly “Single Ladies”, a status cheekily confirmed by a blast of Beyoncé’s anthem at a pivotal moment.
Their insufferable husbands (or perhaps boyfriends now?) were taken on by John Hodgkinson as Joseph Helliwell, Jim Howick as Herbert Soppitt and Marc Wootton as Albert Parker. Wootton excels as the unbearably brash, rude and misogynistic Albert, embodying the role so completely that I found myself rolling my eyes and groaning every time he reappeared, surely the mark of a performance well done.
The production is brilliantly chaotic. Set in one room, it never seemed stagnant. With no scene changes, the action enters and exits through a single door, keeping the audience in constant anticipation of who might burst through next – usually bearing yet more unwelcome news for the couples to swallow. Secrets, lies and mind-boggling revelations are delivered for our tittilation while Mrs Northrop (Janice Connolly), the meddlesome housekeeper, took great joy in the misfortune of her supposed superiors, delighting in the fall of their social snobbery. In fact, all the supporting roles brought humour and pace to the scenes. Ron Cook’s portrayal of an inebriated local newspaper photographer Henry Ormonroyd was hilarious, enriching the role with a woozy physicality and slurred speech.
Transforming a script written in 1934, and set in Edwardian Yorkshire, into such a sharp, accessible comedy is no small feat, yet at no point do the major plot turns or verbal gags feel forced.
The whole production was a joy to behold.
Donmar Warehouse, 41 Earlham Street, WC2H 9LX until 7th February 2026.
Booking: https://www.donmarwarehouse.com/whats-on/when-we-are-married-rg17
