Your support helps us to tell the story
From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.
At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.
The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.
Your support makes all the difference.Masterpieces is strong on villains. They make an interesting array and they are all men - no unthinking coincidence as this engrossing yarn is so tightly knotted with feminist invective that the black-and-white case presented will leave male theatre-goers feeling black and blue.
Playwright Sarah Daniels, sometime script-writer of EastEnders and Grange Hill, grinds her axe relentlessly, but her production never loses its cutting edge; whether her argument stands or falls, she sustains ample interest in the three marriages portrayed. Two of the couples start the show in an unsettling state of unrest; all three end it in utter marital disaster.
The problem is the men: two of them are obviously misogynistic, but when the third, the liberated Female Eunuch-reading good guy, finally shows his true, similar colours, the male sex seems beyond redemption. The wives, having reached this conclusion for themselves (following an encounter with pornographic material), free themselves of their shackles, let down their hair and take a picnic under the shining sun in an agonisingly cliched statement of rebirth and purity. The message is clear to the point of being blindingly obvious, but an excellent cast creates and sustains the emotional involvement of the audience as well as forcing home the arguments.
To 23 Aug (071-482 4857)
Join our commenting forum
Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies
Comments