“The Female Of the Species” by Riverside Drama Company
Duchess Theatre, Long Eaton.

Written by Joanna Murray-Smith and (supposedly) based on an incident concerning Germaine Greer, it tells the story of Margot Mason, a feminist writer suffering from writer's block; she cannot meet the deadlines for her next book, when all of a sudden arrives Molly Rivers, a deranged former student of Margot's, complete with gun and handcuffs.

Molly blames Margot for warping her mother's mind with one of Margot’s best sellers. Following Margot's writings, Molly's mother gave Molly away as a baby so that she wouldn't be enslaved by motherhood and then killed herself. Molly has had herself sterilized to preserve her creativity, only to be told by Margot that she has no talent.

If this wasn’t bad enough, Margot’s daughter, Tess and son in law, Bryan, arrive and add their opinions to the already volatile situation. Also adding to Margot’s roasting is Margot’s publisher, Theo, and a rather angry Scottish taxi driver, Frank. This is not a great day for Margot.

This is not a play about feminism, it's a comedy about actions and the reactions to what people say, write and do. It's also a play about understanding and discovery with a massive dollop of sarcasm and cutting retorts throughout.

Liz Turner (Margot) in one of the funniest, and foul-mouthed roles that I have seen her in. She certainly extracted some gasps from the audience with her ripe language, which made her role even more fun to watch. Some brilliant lines for Liz in this role; so sharp and cutting and delivered with great conviction.

Rebekah Dean (Molly) certainly grew her character from her first entrance to her final scene. I loved the absurdity of the blossoming romance between Molly and one of the other characters from the attempted siege.

Amy Cannon (Tess), certainly looked the part of the tired mother of three youngsters under ten whose husband who seemed to spend more time away from the hectic home. The character acting was brilliant. Again a character, who is her mother's daughter in one way, as she has a choice vocabulary, but used to accentuate her drudgery of a life.Loved the last scene though where there is a hint of sauce!!

Jack Workman (Bryan) makes his debut with Riverside, and his first stage work since graduating from Derby University. He has a very natural feel and attitude to acting and that works well with this character, who has some wonderful lines to deliver. I look forward to seeing Jack back on stage in the New Year.

Julian Franklin (Frank) plays the Scottish "caveman" taxi driver who only came back to give Tess a piece of his mind after she ignored his ramblings in the cab.Another brilliantly fun role, delivered with a soft Scots brogue, which I think helped to soften the alpha male caveman within. Julian also has some great facial expressions with this character.

Rob Osmond (Theo) plays the slightly camp, not over the top camp, publisher for Margot who we are introduced to near the end of the play. It may only be a minor role compared with the others but his is a very important role to the outcome of the play. Again, nice characterisation.

Directed by Samantha Badman, she got the casting for these characters spot on. The comedy flowed smoothly making this a lovely, albeit absurd, farce. i never did understand why there was a cow blocking the front door though! Strange that.

I think that, once the shock of the language had died down, this plays was a real audience pleaser, even though it's not one that you'll see performed on the local drama group circuit, it's really worth a watch.

“The Female Of The Species” is at the Duchess Theatre in Long Eaton until Saturday 23 November.