By Conor O’Neill
Photography courtesy of the Grand Opera House
Let’s face it, Caroline Curran and Maggie Muff are more or less inseparable. With the thundering pen of Leesa Harker, who also produces this banger of a play, this piece of comedic theatre will enthrall all who see it.
I’m of a certain age, and with that ‘certain age’ I’ve watched every play but one. I’ve grown up with Maggie, as have many of the crowd. The Grand Opera House holds 1040 souls, and last night I’d say about three quarters were women of a certain age. Harker and Curran have been synchronised since 2013 with the debut, Fifty Shades of Red, White and Blue. And the laughs have never stopped since then.
The set is simple, a big red bed. Curran,akes it her own, never changes costume and a sheer brilliant performance carries Harker’s vision from start to finish.
We’ve witnessed the shebeen, went to Benidorm, saw her have a baby, had all sorts of high jinks met all sorts of characters, some shady, some adorable, but all somehow real and relevant. Big Sally Anne is here, so is Sinead Greener, hubby Billy and all the rest of the squad. But fuck a duck, this play has heart.
We move and evolve with both Curran and Harker as we age with them. And, the title gives the plot away. The big M is the name of the game. I’ve rarely been in a theatre and been out numbered five to one for simply having XY chromosomes, but to tell you the truth, this play is universal. Us men know little about the menopause, and if you’re reading this with a wife or partner who’s going through ‘the change’, you’ll be hard pressed to find a more eye-opening comedic view of women’s problems than this finely crafted piece of theatre.
Like most men, Billy is busy watching the darts in the next room while Maggie is suffering hot sweats, having trouble with vaginal dryness and running with thoughts too mad to mention and beating her ‘fanny’ in a furious attempt to get it back to working order.
As usual there’s brilliant tunes to emphasise the different scenes of this two act play, and Caroline Curran carries every shift of pace fantastically. She shifts from character to character with sublime ease. One laugh rolls into the next. My pen could hardly keep up.
Modesty has never been Harker’s strength; bluer than midnight blue humour from the start right up to the very end. Yet in spite, or maybe because of the subject matter, there’s defiance and a sense of ownership of womanhood that’ll touch the viewer in may ways a serious play could not.
My plus one was my sister – also of that age – and she laughed her head off at jokes I didn’t get. To say I was ‘scundered to the hundred’ at times is a definite understatement. But the intensity of the performance, the brilliance of the writing makes this arguably Harker and Curran’s finest play to date. I dare you not to fill your Tena lady pad watching this cracker of a play.
I don’t know when Harker will finally hang up Maggie’s knickers, but it’ll be a sad day when she does.
Maggie’s Menopause runs up to and including Saturday, February 7th, 2026. Buy yourself a ticket, bring your hubby with you or have a great night out with the girls. You won’t regret it.
For ticket information visit http://www.goh.co.uk or simply phone the box office on 02890241919
ENDS
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