In a sexually provocative performance is starlet and aspiring actress Ruby Raymond (Zoe Goriely) who calls round to discuss the play she is in and to pitch for more parts.  I found myself laughing at Zoe Goriely’s posing in those 1920s short skirts sitting on a table to show off her legs. Ruby has a common accent and her body wiggle says it all.  

Now laughter was all too rare in this early Coward work where his famous wit is rather thin on the ground and also the storyline is without fireworks.  More damp squib than exciting bursts of fire.  The dull and shabby set design doesn’t help with a 1920s aesthetic with a change of flat being achieved by checked throws over the same boring armchairs.  Further I found Sheila’s costumes weird or just plain wrong from her bizarre full width brown trousers (weird) to her crass thin fabric turquoise pleated skirt frock. Maybe there was a hidden point here that her new role was so unfitting to her personality that this dress was what the wife of a successful playwright was meant to wear, but it looked so awkward for her.

The acting is fine although Keld switches from lover to cheat quite rapidly.  His reading of the newspapers’ complimentary notices is full of overinflated ego.  Lily Nichol as Sheila has moments of pain but the ending, no spoilers here, is unconvincing for me.  I couldn’t see any sexual chemistry between Keld and Sheila. I loved Burrage’s contempt of the master of the house as she defers to the mistress.  I liked also Sheila’s former flatmate and confidant Olive Lloyd-Kennedy (Gina Bramhill) who offers sensible support.

Overall this is a disappointment with a piece that never seems to take off into a proper drama. Where interest does lie is as an early Cowardian take on the institution of marriage.