Untrue wives

Director David Horan learned two major lessons from the double bill of plays the Inis Theatre company is currently presenting at Dublin’s Crypt. Firstly, that “feminism can be funny and entertaining and that ‘feminism’ shouldn’t be a dirty word” and, secondly, that one should “be just as scared of the woman who’s not a sexual predator as the one who is!” Lessons we all should learn, surely.

So what are the two productions? The World’s Wife, based on a collection of poems by Carol-Ann Duffy and Lady Susan, after Jane Austin. In The World’s Wife we meet what one critic described as “the forgotten wives of the great, the good, the flawed and the ugly from Frau Freud to Orpheus lost love Eurydice, from Mme Quasimodo to Mrs Faust” adding that “and all are nothing less than a delight”. And more, obviously.

“What Carol-Ann has basically done is taken famous men in history and written poems from the wives’ perspectives,” explains Horan. “And she also sums up the modern female experience. So with Mrs Faust, for example, she’s looking at the neglected housewife of a man too interested in his work. With the Devil’s wife she’s actually talking about Myra Hyndley and having a go at the British Justice system. And she takes lighter themes as well, talking about penis envy in relation to Frau Freud. And she’s even got Queen Kong! And it’s all done by two actors who perform sixteen different women.”

As for Lady Susan, what attracted Inis and David to the project was that the “lady” in question is a Scarlett O’ Hara figure.

“And her husband has died so she’s forced to go live with her sister-in-law” says David. “And the sister-in-law is your typical Austin, chaste woman trying to maintain order and domesticity. Whereas Lady Susan is the exact opposite. She’s a complete sexual predator and the play is really about how these two women battle it out. And how they use different tactics that are equally manipulative so you can neither say that one stereotype is better than the other. Again, it’s taking on feminine perspectives and renegotiating them in some respect.”

David Horan, who was approached by Inis Theatre to do the productions, sure sounds like he’s having a ball doing this gig.

“I love it!” he enthuses. “And another thing both plays have shown me is the power of suggestion in terms of words. The language of both the writers is so theatrical that you can mine it for more and more humour. Particularly The World’s Wife which, as I say, really does prove that feminism need not be humourless. In fact, I think it’s wonderfully humourous play. By the poet, Carol-Anne Duffy, who, I must admit I’d never heard of, but she apparently is the third most read poet in what we used to call the British Isles! And I certainly think that – apart from the humour – men could learn a lot from a work like this.”