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A Respectable Widow Takes to Vulgarity

A Respectable Widow Takes to VulgarityLeslie Black Photography

Annabelle strikes up an unlikely relationship with her dead husband's potty-mouthed employee, Jim. She begins to enter into Jim's un-finishing school, liberating her own voice through vulgarity, Annabelle gets herself heard.


The critical consensus

A hilarious riff on language, class and communication, perfectly structured by Maxwell, and magnificently delivered by Joanna Tope and Scott Fletcher, in one of the most perfectly-tuned double-acts I’ve ever seen on a Scottish stage.

****(*)Joyce McMillan, 21/02/2013

A Respectable Widow is sweet, warm and cuddly, in spite of the torrent of swear words.

Lorna Irvine, Across the Arts, 26/02/2013

Traverse artistic director Orla O’Loughlin’s production is smooth and pacey, and she neatly plays up the piece’s more serious themes while never losing sight of its often gloriously coarse humour. It’s quite a remarkable achievement to pack so much into 45 minutes – and to make it so wonderfully funny as well.

****(*)David Kettle, The Edinburgh Reporter, 27/02/2013

A great way to spend a lunchtime and one of the best Play Pie and a Pint’s to transfer to the Traverse.

****(*)Thom Dibdin, Annals of Edinburgh Stage, 28/02/2013

Both Fletcher and Love make the very most of their roles, developing them believably throughout, and Orla O’Laughlin’s direction takes us sure-footedly from Jim and Joanna’s opening encounter to the play’s end.

****(*)Bill Dunlop, Edinburgh Guide,26/02/2013

In April Chamberlain’s new production, Anne Kidd is excellent as Annabelle and young Craig McLean an absolute master of comic timing and tone as Jim; in a perfectly-polished little gem of Scottish theatre that’s well worth remembering, exactly six years on from its first outing at Oran Mor, in 2013.

****(*)Joyce McMillan, The Scotsman, 22/02/2019


Features about A Respectable Widow Takes to Vulgarity

A Respectable Widow Takes to Vulgarity

David Pollock, The List, 19/02/2013

Where and when?

A Play, a Pie and a Pint, Glasgow from Monday February 18, 2013, until Saturday February 23, 2013. More info: http://playpiepint.com

Traverse Theatre, Edinburgh from Tuesday February 26, 2013, until Saturday March 2, 2013. More info: www.traverse.co.uk

A Play, a Pie and a Pint, Glasgow from Monday February 18, 2019, until Saturday February 23, 2019. More info: http://playpiepint.com

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