Quite some time ago – more than half a century in fact, in the heady days when women were exploring their newly-won liberties and sexual comedy was part of the zeitgeist - the Quebecois film Les Femmes en Or so seized the imagination as to become a cult classic. It followed two bored housewives in their delirious pursuit of fulfillment. Now adapting the script for the stage Catherine Léger has updated the setting to the present but the situation remains the same.

The bored stay-at-home young women in this version are Florence (Aurora Chan) and Violet (Stefania Indelicato). Violet, who is breast-feeding, is clearly going nuts. As well as hearing a crow in her baby's cries, she is convinced the neighbours are deliberately bonking so noisily she can hear them through their shared wall. Next door Florence is on sick-leave from work, drugged up with anti-depressants and has definitely not been having fabulous sex. In fact, she hasn't had any decent sex for years and is so anaesthetised with anti-depressants she doesn't care. .

Both the husbands fall under the old tropes of salesman husband with a bit on the side (Dan Tait Brown as Ben) and under-performing partner (Daniel Martin as David).

Abandoning both breast-feeding and drugs, the two women hatch a solution to their problem and a series of very funny sketches sees them inviting an exterminator, a carpet cleaner and guys from both Shaw and Telus into their homes. They lure in suitable prospects by selling their husbands' macho equipment on Craigslist. Even the vegetable delivery person (Alina Quarin) is not exempt. Luckily, she has time for a quickie before her Tinder appointment Sharply lit in stop-action flashes by Christian Ching, the rapid sex scenes are hilarious.

Meanwhile, David decides that at least one person in the family should be on drugs and swallows them by the handful. Slower to catch on, Violet’s self-regarding husband continues to spend time in Alberta with Miss YouTube. Coolly self-contained, Alina Quarin’s deadpan delivery simply accentuates the frantic emotionalism of everyone else.

Sound design by Hannah DuMez is strangely mechanical, clicking, grinding, whirring and cawing, yet weirdly interesting. Sarah Sosick’s costume design captures the suburban feel with bland-but -X-worthy leisure wear and pops with a stunning, red seduction outfit. The set by Heipo Leung is straight out of House Beautiful – cool grey walls, minimalist furniture and a giant bed dominating the stage. Big enough for four, the bed makes for an amazingly comfortable knee-trembler. First-class design plus accomplished acting and direction carry the performance to a satisfactory close.

Often witty, the script contains clever satire and neat contemporary updating with plenty of laughs for good measure. The original premise though resists updating. The times, the customs have changed.

©2025 Elizabeth Paterson