Women on the Verge of HRT (that's Hormone Replacement Therapy)

We Yanks on this side of the pond may not have stacks of Daniel O'Donnell CDs that we passionately blare from the car stereo when roadtrippin' with our buddies, but apparently the guy's pretty big stuff in Britain and Ireland. When Mojo Magazine recently surveyed its readers to determine Britain's All-Time Top 100, O'Donnell came in at an impressive #31, ahead of the Spicegirls, Boyzone and Bob Dylan. His easy listening pop has an especially large fan base among older women because he, according to the characters in Marie Jones' Women on the Verge of HRT, supplies the fantasy of romance and sexual attention that women seldom get once they hit menopause.

Playing off of Pedro Almodovar's Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown (HRT stands for Hormone Replacement Therapy), Jones sets Act I in a modest Donegal hotel room, where middle-aged friends Anna (Kelly Taylor) and Vera (Joan D. Slavin) have traveled from Belfast to swoon over their pop idol O'Donnell in concert. Apparently, many women of their age have made the same trip, as the dialogue reveals the hotel, owned by O'Donnell, is filled with his fans, many enjoying the sort of post-concert partying you'd expect in a freshman college dorm. A bit giddy from lemonade cocktails, the excitement of the show and the libido enhancing HRT, the ladies merrily flirt with the younger room service waiter (Tom Souhrada), who warmly reacts as though accustomed to this treatment.

Although attractive and well-groomed, Anna and Vera have been feeling tossed on the sexual scrape heap by Irish men who cannot "see the soul of a woman." Anna's ex-husband is now expecting a child with his new (younger) wife and Vera's husband has stopped making love to her. In the Irish tradition of using humor as a defense against sorrow, Jones' dialogue is feisty, racy and joke-laden, mostly relying on the "shock" of seeing older women talking openly about their sex drive.

And there are songs with music by Neil Martin, although the reason for their inclusion isn't quite clear and their effectiveness is minimal. But one that works nicely is part of a fantasy when Souhrada comes into their room as O'Donnell, crooning a romantic pop number with non-threatening sex appeal.

And fantasy plays a major role in Act II, which takes place as the women watch the sun rise on a plateau overlooking the sea in Donegal. With Souhrada once again providing imaginary figures, the ladies confront the men in their lives in ways they never would in actuality.

It's rather unclear if Tom Souhrada is playing multiple characters or if he's playing some sort of magical fantasy figure who morphs into various male images, but in either case he gives an engaging performance with a lovely Irish Tenor. Kelly Taylor, as the earthy Anna and Joan D. Slavin as the more inhibited Vera are also warm and appealing, handling the sit-com style humor with grace and sympathy. With the rather lightweight text, director Lynne Taylor-Corbett emphasizes charm, and fortunately her three actors can provide plenty of it.

I suppose your reaction to Women on the Verge of HRT will depend on where you're coming from. This 40-ish male found it pleasant but either terribly dated for a such a recent play or more relevant to the women of Belfast than to the New York women in his circles. But the dozens of older women in the audience gave hearty laughs of recognition throughout and many of them stood up for the curtain calls. If that's Jones' target audience, it seems like she's hit a bullseye. I know my mom would have loved it.

Photo: Kelly Taylor, Tom Souhrada, and Joan D. Slavin Photo by Joan Marcus

Women on the Vergeof HRT plays at the Irish Arts Center through October 17th. Visit smarttix.com for more information.

 

For Michael Dale's "mad adventures of a straight boy living in a gay world" visit dry2olives.com

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