Home, I'm Darling

Katherine Parkinson in Home, I'm Darling Copyright: Seatplan.com

Home, I'm Darling tour

I was lucky enough to get last minute tickets to see this new play by Laura Wade at the Theatre Royal Bath so it was my first time in this venue.

The play itself is interesting; exploring what is feminism and what is the perfect marriage. We are introduced to a seemingly perfect 1950's couple, wife making breakfast and husband getting ready for work. The stage is set up as four rooms in a house (a typical two up, two down) and once the husband leaves the wife busies herself cleaning before pulling a laptop out a drawer and sitting down to work on it. The play has a lot of fun with the jarring nature of living an old fashioned lifestyle in a modern world. The wife (Katherine Parkinson) use to be high powered but when she was made redundant throws herself into the keeping the 1950's lifestyle committed to the point of cutting herself off from modern news and seeming to be the 'little, ignorant wife' when guests visit. Her husband also seems to find her servile and this causes friction in their marriage. The play has another 50's loving couple who are contrasted with the main two and this is used to show the difference between hobby and obsession. The wife also has a hippy 2nd wave feminist mother who is frustrated by her daughter harking back to a type of life that was inflexible, racist and sexist and until rationing ended not as bountiful as the films she loves so much suggest! The play explores the fantasy of the perfect marriage and then deftly demonstrates what a real, happy marriage is. 

The set is lovely and beautifully curated and when we have a flashback the cast do an excellent job of changing the scenery around them so there is a seamless change back to the present. The costumes are great and really pop.

Theatre Royal Bath is a nice theatre but does have a few issues in that it has pillar that restrict views on the Royal and Dress Circle but they have an 'Standby ticket' option which for £9 means you can sit on unreserved benches or restricted view seats that are only available on the day. Plenty of bars and snacks but only programmes no additional merchandise.