Playing with Grown Ups
Published on 14. May 2013
Book
Paperback/Softback
112 pages
978-1-4725-3069-1 (ISBN)
Description
That's the problem isn't it? Now we can have it all, we're expected to bloody do it all.
Late thirties, careers under their belts, and a new baby just arrived. Isn't that what everybody wants? Faced with the reality of her new life, Joanna tries to make sense of the events and decisions which led her to this point. Full of regret, with a husband who's pretending that everything's fine, the last thing she needs is her ex-lover turning up with an unexpected guest. Or maybe it's exactly what she needs.
A wry, provocative look at what it is to be a woman today, in a society which tells us we can have it all and our ambitions can be unlimited.
Late thirties, careers under their belts, and a new baby just arrived. Isn't that what everybody wants? Faced with the reality of her new life, Joanna tries to make sense of the events and decisions which led her to this point. Full of regret, with a husband who's pretending that everything's fine, the last thing she needs is her ex-lover turning up with an unexpected guest. Or maybe it's exactly what she needs.
A wry, provocative look at what it is to be a woman today, in a society which tells us we can have it all and our ambitions can be unlimited.
Reviews / Votes
Patterson's sharp, funny script twists the knife into twenty-first-century life, bleak in its portrayal . . . of a generation of women struggling with the reality of feminism's legacy. -- Tom Wicker * Stage * [An] enjoyable and thought-provoking four-hander ... There is something for everyone in this sharply observed comedy, which tackles everything from middle-aged regret and the myth of having it all to the question of whether fulfilment lies in a pile of nappies. It is potential dynamite and there are moments when this piece fizzes with comedy as well as emotion ... the play is smartly funny and intelligent, and dares to confront a taboo: that not every woman falls head over heels in love with her baby, and that sometimes work may be more alluring and fulfilling than motherhood. -- Lyn Gardner * Guardian * Engaging new writing that asks the important question "can women have it all?" without providing a simplistic answer. -- Alicia Luba * Telegraph *More details
Series
Language
English
Place of publication
London
United Kingdom
Publishing group
Bloomsbury Publishing PLC
Dimensions
Height: 198 mm
Width: 129 mm
Thickness: 6 mm
Weight
127 gr
ISBN-13
978-1-4725-3069-1 (9781472530691)
DOI
CBID181694
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Other editions
Additional editions
Hannah Patterson
Playing with Grown Ups
E-Book
12/2013
1st Edition
Methuen Drama
€13.99
Available for download
Hannah Patterson
Playing with Grown Ups
E-Book
07/2013
1st Edition
Methuen Drama
€13.99
Available for download
Person
Hannah Patterson is a writer for theatre and film. Her debut play, MUCH, premiered at the Cock Tavern in 2010. Other plays include The Weakness In Me and AID (Winners of the one-act New Plays Project; Jersey Arts Trust/Old Vic New Voices), and Resistantes, which she also performed (Paines Plough /'Come to Where I'm From'). Hannah is the co-writer and producer of the documentary film Shelter in Place, winner of the Channel 4 BRITDOC Foundation's Pitch Prize, and has written for publications including Sight & Sound, The International Film Guide, Time Out and the Guardian.