When We Are Married

“Marriage, where would we be without it?” asks a husband as he proposes a toast to the institution. “Single!” comes the brisk wifely reply.

Priestley’s fine piece of comic writing, in which three West Riding couples celebrating their joint silver wedding day discover they have not been legally married for all those 25 years, gets a glorious revival in Christopher Luscombe’s sumptuous production.

The solid Edwardian drawing room setting looks like money well spent. Furnished to the hilt by Simon Higlett, it gets an enthusiastic round and remains unoccupied for almost a minute before the first two actors make their entrances.

The starry 14-strong cast is headed by eight seasoned players at the top of their game. And while this is ensemble playing at its best, with fine work by David Horovitch and Susie Blake as hosts of the occasion, four performances are quite outstanding.

Sam Kelly as the henpecked Herbert Soppit is at first in total thrall to Maureen Lipman as a dragon of a wife. But when the unthinkable happens and he finds he is no longer tied by matrimony, the worm permanently turns in a splendid display of masculine independence, exchanging slap for slap and winning cheer after cheer.

Likewise, Michelle Dotrice as the meekly devoted wife of Simon Rouse’s pompous Councillor Parker finds a true emotional strength to tell him he is a stingy bore and accepts a tender caress from a newly romantic Soppit, while Blake’s Maria caps that by handing over the full domestic workload to her husband’s Blackpool fancy woman – vividly portrayed by Rosemary Ashe.

Lynda Baron as the eavesdropping cook clearly relishes her great scene as the briefly triumphant mistress of the situation. But the performance of the evening comes from Roy Hudd, capping his 51 showbusiness years with a joyful performance as the press photographer, a well-filled glass in hand and a delicious free-form dance – a scene which could be held a moment longer to give us time to applaud his loose-limbed clowning skills.