Grumpy Old Women

Published Monday 24 April 2006 at 11:45 by Pat Ashworth

The gleam behind the glasses gives Jenny Eclair the appearance of some kind of bad fairy bent on creating as much mischief and mayhem as she can. Agile and outrageous, she is the stirrer and mixer of everything that is funny about women. The show is simply uproarious.

It is big, brash and colourful, riding on a wave of warmth and empathy from the almost exclusively female audience. A velvet-clad Dille Keane is the posh one of this wicked sisterhood. She has a delicious line in hauteur and upper-class disdain as she advances downstage with a menace designed to have customer services managers cowering beneath their desks. Her comic timing is superb and she can hush the theatre in expectation of the punch line.

Eclair is the most physical as she capers around the stage or lies down in hilarious demonstration of the perils of nipple behaviour during a massage. Linda Robson plays the rough stuff, railing against the world from the enveloping folds of her dreadful winceyette nightie. The women bewail everything from the need for bras that would fit Peggy Mount to the terrible realisation that they are hooked on gadgets from the Lakeland catalogue.

They contend that Trinny and Susannah are gay men in drag and conclude that every woman needs a Keith with a shed. The second half is smarter, ruder and more outrageous, with a glorious moment when the audience is invited to join in a communal tut-tutting against crisp-rustlers and skinny girls in thongs. I am still chuckling today.

Production information

By:: Jenny Eclair and Judith Holder
Management:: Avalon Promotions and Liberty Bell
Cast:: Jenny Eclair, Dillie Keane and Linda Robson
Website:: www.grumpyoldwomenlive.com

Production information can change over the run of the show.

Run sheet

Everyman Cheltenham: November 3- 5 2005
Playhouse Nottingham: November 6 2005
Albert Halls Bolton: November 8 2005
Hawth Crawley: November 11 2005
Warwick Arts Centre Coventry: November 13 2005
Swan High Wycombe: April 21 2006
Playhouse Nottingham: April 22 2006
Hippodrome Bristol: April 24 2006
Guildhall Southampton: April 26 2006
Dorking Halls Dorking: April 27 2006
Warwick Arts Centre Coventry: April 28 2006
Broadway Peterborough: April 29 2006
Corn Exchange Cambridge: May 1 2006
Auditorium Grimsby: May 2 2006
Deco Northampton: May 3 2006
St George's Concert Hall Bradford: May 5 2006
Theatre Royal Newcastle-upon-Tyne: May 7 2006
Assembly Hall Tunbridge Wells: May 8 2006
Grand Opera House York: May 9 2006
Royal Spa Centre Leamington Spa: May 10 2006
Victoria Hall Stoke-On-Trent: May 11 2006
Venue Cymru Llandudno: May 13 2006
Empire Liverpool: May 14 2006
Churchill Bromley: May 15 2006
Corn Exchange King's Lynn: May 16 2006
Central Chatham: May 17 2006
Corn Exchange Ipswich: May 18 2006
Alban Arena St Albans: May 19 2006
Hexagon Reading: May 20 2006
Richmond Theatre Richmond-upon-Thames: May 21 2006
Victoria Halifax: May 23 2006
Festival Edinburgh: May 25 2006
New Oxford: May 26 2006
Assembly Rooms Derby: May 27 2006
Milton Keynes Theatre Milton Keynes: May 28 2006
Orchard Dartford: May 30 2006
Opera House Manchester: May 31 2006
Alexandra Birmingham: June 1 2006
De Montfort Hall Leicester: June 2 2006
Anvil Basingstoke: June 3 2006
Wales Millennium Centre, Donald Gordon Cardiff: June 4 2006
Ashcroft Croydon: June 7- 9 2006
Fairfield Concert Hall Croydon: June 7- 9 2006
Concert Hall, Dome Brighton: October 6- 7 2006
New Wimbledon London: October 8 2006
Hippodrome Bristol: October 9 2006
Plaza Stockport: October 12 2006
Festival Edinburgh: October 14 2006
Empire Sunderland: October 15 2006
Playhouse Nottingham: October 20-21 2006
Churchill Bromley: October 22 2006
Cliffs Pavilion Southend-on-Sea: October 27 2006
Opera House Buxton: October 30 2006
White Rock Hastings: November 4 2006
New Victoria Woking: November 5 2006
Music Hall Aberdeen: November 7 2006
Everyman Cheltenham: November 9-11 2006
Princes Hall Aldershot: November 13-14 2006
City Hall Salisbury: November 15 2006
Deco Northampton: November 16-17 2006
Richmond Theatre Richmond-upon-Thames: November 19 2006
Assembly Hall Tunbridge Wells: November 20-21 2006
Anvil Basingstoke: November 22 2006
Dorking Halls Dorking: November 23-24 2006
Alexandra Birmingham: November 26 2006
Bedworth Arts Centre Bedworth: November 27 2006
Grand Opera House York: November 28 2006
Broadway Peterborough: November 30 2006
New Oxford: December 4 2006
Royal Court Liverpool: December 5 2006
Warwick Arts Centre Coventry: December 7- 8 2006
De Montfort Hall Leicester: December 9 2006
Regent Ipswich: October 2 2007
Concert Hall, Dome Brighton: October 5-July 5 2008
Broadway Peterborough: October 6 2007
New Wimbledon London: October 7 2007
De Montfort Hall Leicester: October 8 2007
Pavilion Bournemouth: October 11 2007
Alexandra Birmingham: October 12 2007
Regent Stoke-On-Trent: October 14 2007
Wales Millennium Centre, Donald Gordon Cardiff: October 15 2007
Warwick Arts Centre Coventry: October 17 2007
Princess Torquay: October 18 2007
Theatre Royal Newcastle-upon-Tyne: October 21 2007
Opera House Buxton: October 22 2007
Royal Concert Hall Nottingham: October 23 2007
New Oxford: October 24 2007
Opera House Manchester: October 27 2007
Auditorium Grimsby: October 28 2007
Grand Opera House Belfast: October 31 2007
Derngate, Royal & Derngate Northampton: November 4 2007
King George's Hall Blackburn: November 7 2007
Venue Cymru Llandudno: November 10 2007
Theatre Royal Glasgow: November 11 2007
His Majesty's Aberdeen: November 12, 13 2007
Cliffs Pavilion Southend-on-Sea: November 15 2007
Assembly Hall Tunbridge Wells: November 17 2007
Congress Eastbourne: November 19 2007
Opera House Jersey: November 22-23 2007
Charter Preston: November 25 2007
Grand Opera House York: November 26 2007
Alban Arena St Albans: November 27 2007
Embassy Skegness: November 28 2007
Southport Theatre Southport: November 29 2007
St George's Concert Hall Bradford: December 1 2007
Empire Sunderland: December 2 2007
Festival Edinburgh: December 3 2007
Richmond Theatre Richmond-upon-Thames: June 23

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