Whose wife is it anyhow?
November 28, 2008 San Miguel de Allende 

Playreaders Theater Lunch Hour  Wed–Thu, Dec 3–4, 7pm St. Paul’s Church Cardo 6 Donation 20 pesos

In Jean Kerr’s comedy Lunch Hour, all Oliver DeVreck wants is a quiet weekend to finish correcting the proofs of his latest book. He’s a marriage counselor and bestselling author of books on successful marriage. His latest, he has told his publisher, will definitely not be called Whose Wife Is It Anyhow?

Oliver’s wife goes out for the day, and he settles at his desk to work, when in barges 20-something Carrie Sachs, who wants to speak to his wife to convince her not to continue with her affair with Carrie’s wealthy husband. That his wife is having an affair is not good news to Oliver, especially in view of his supposed expertise on marriage. And what Carrie eventually suggests is a strategy to wake up the jealousy of the two straying spouses: that she and Oliver have an affair, or at least pretend to have one, which does not sit well with Oliver’s sense of professional ethics.

And besides, Carrie is much too ditzy to appeal to Oliver, at least at first.

When Oliver’s wife returns home to confront Carrie, and then Carrie’s husband Peter shows up, the fireworks really shoot off, to hilarious results.

When the play opened on Broadway, Carrie was played by the late Gilda Radner (of Saturday Night Live fame) and Oliver was played by Sam Waterston, the prosecuting attorney on Law and Order. In the Playreaders production, Carrie is played by Crystal Calderoni, recently featured in Regrets Only and Oliver is played by Michael Gottlieb, who also featured in Regrets Only among his many appearances on San Miguel stages. Oliver’s wife Nora is read by Clara Dunham, who was Mozart’s wife in the Playreaders Amadeus while veteran actor and director Bill Gallacher reads as Peter.

Lunch Hour, directed by Gerry Camp, plays December 3–4, at 7:30pm. Doors open at 7pm and a donation gets you through the doors.