This brief (70 minutes) play opened engagingly with the female character alone on her bed and then preparing the room for the arrival of a date. Plunged into darkness, the man had entered the room when the lights came back on. It rapidly became clear that he was there to provide a service that he had done for many other ladies - a service of impregnation but without any emotional contact or any kissing. The play was set after th first world war and the lady in her early thirties was a widow wanting to get pregnant but she also found it impossible to avail herself of the service in such anonymous circumstances.
The man left having revealed enough about himself for her to track him down. When he comes back, they fall in love and have an affair. Then the bombshell of his unavailability with her inevitable devastation.
It was interesting to follow this unfolding drama and the writing cleverly made it very light and amusing. My criticism would be the extent to which it was thought provoking. We had the ideas of the difficulties of such practical sex, of her apparent progressive attitudes to sex and the importance of his love-making techniques. We also had his deception excused by not having been asked directly and we were reminded of the dreadful consequence of pregnancy for a single woman at that time. But none of that is particularly amazing.
Nonetheless an enjoyable hour and excellent acting and production.
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