When We Are Married review – JB Priestley playfully upends gender roles

Donmar Warehouse, LondonIn Priestley’s shenanigan-filled 1934 comedy, three couples discover they are not married after all – meaning the men lose authority and the women gain freedoms Stomachs are tight, bottles are empty, and the night has just begun. JB Priestley’s cosy comedy is easy entertainment on a chilly evening, and Tim Sheader’s chucklesome production conjures the comforting feeling of sinking into an armchair by a fire and rewatching a quaint old classic.Written in 1934 and set in 1908, this shenanigan-filled drama sees three middle-class Yorkshire couples smugly toasting their silver wedding anniversaries. Monied, mannered, and blindingly dressed by costume designer Anna Fleischle (all fine tweed and extravagant puffs of lace cuffs), their unravelling begins with the discovery that a mistake occurred 25 years ago. None of them are married after all. Continue reading...