When We Are Married

A revival of a JB Priestly play, and with a fabulous cast, this was a lovely gentle way to ease back into theatre for 2026 

The set is a proudly hideous mustard living room with a cartoonishly large houseplant in the corner next to the piano, which sets the scene perfectly as Mrs Northrop, the nosy ascerbic housekeeper (played by Janice Connelly) gets us off to a good start with a rousing opening rendition of The Biggest Apidistra in the World.  We are then very quickly into the comic shenangans as the chapel organist (Gerald Forbes)  brings bad news to the three couples who have gathered together to celebrate their 25 years of marriage.  It appears that their wedding ceremonies were not valid, and this throws everything in the air and in a very entertaining way.  I loved the arrival of the wives to the stage after this bombshell to the dulcet tones of Beyoncé’s All the Single Ladies which was gleeful in its incongruity.  The whole play is a jab at marital complacency, as the men find they no longer have power, and the women revel in their potential freedom. 

There's a sweet 'what might have been' as we find that repressed and cowed Herbert Soppitt (played by Jim Howick on top form) was once a suitor for similarly cowed Annie Parker (a superb Sophie Thompson) , who is now married to the bombastic and stingy Albert Parker (Marc Wootton).  Samantha Spiro is suitably awful as Clara Soppit.  And the remaining couple are a regal Maria Helliwell (Siobhan Finneran), and her officious (and maybe a little unfaithful) Alderman husband Joseph. It’s hard to pick out anyone in particular as the whole ensemble was brilliant,   But the gold star for physical comedy goes to Ron Cook as the increasingly inebriated photographer, invited to the house to take a photo of the happy couples. 

This is no polemic, and the opportunities to turn this into a crusade about the patriarchy or womens rights are all passed by for something a lot more domestic, and I think that's fine.  As the fallout of the revelations continue, all of the relationships are unpacked with a lot of truths being told, to much comic effect.  Although the ending sort of takes us back to the status quo, we have a sense that much has changed as the couples have a much better understanding of each other.   This play is coming up for 90 years old, and although the scandal wouldn’t be the same these days, none of that stops it being a lot of fun.  

There’s only a couple of weeks left and it’s pretty well sold out but I got a £15 standing ticket which was worth every penny. This doesn’t have some big overpowering message really, except maybe be kind, but that feels like a good message to have in the early days of 2026