An hour-long devised piece, Recipe for a Perfect Wife presents an ITV game show to find 'Britain's Perfect Wife' in which five contestants are pitted against each other to demonstrate 'beauty, obedience and cooking skills. Four competitive rounds are interspersed with commercial interludes about products such as Sunbeam Mixmaster, Ovo washing powder and Dorothy Bay skin cream. The show's 'darling singing beauties' - songstresses June (Kate Collinson) and Violet (Claire Wood) - perform fitting popular tunes such as If I Knew You Were Comin' I'd've Baked a Cake and Keep Young and Beautiful. The show's hosts Hugh (Matt Houlihan) and Sue (Chloe Eve Thorpe) move things along fast with barbed banter. Unseen judges eliminate four contestants on grounds such as wearing no make-up at breakfast and making foul-tasting cake mix.

It is a feast of clipped vowels, bygone phrases, and references conjuring up the era's obsession with cosy domesticity, conformity and flawless appearance. Vying ruthlessly, the women air desperate views on the relative merits of cold-cream, beef Bovril tea, Banbury cakes, lemon meringue pie, stew, washing, cleaning, stainless-steel versus silver cutlery, childcare, knitting, goosefat and church-going. As the rounds progress, the masks slip. A series of spotlit confessions reveal the sadness and discontent behind neat facades of bright polka-dots, jolly housework routines and avowals of wifely devotion.

Jenny Bede's Donna has no illusions about where her talents lie: her tits. Believing that 'men don't like clever women', she jokes that she first realised her husband liked her when 'he couldn't look me in the eye.' In strawberry-patterned dress trimmed with red netting, Jenny Bede portrays a woman confident of her sexual allure, but who is trying not to acknowledge a buried awareness of what could happen when things go south.

Katie Collier's guileless Evelyn, pristine in white-and-red polka-dot dress, announces in an unguarded moment that her floor is never clean because she has children, drawing a gasp of horror. In her spotlight moment, she appears to have accepted that women are for cooking, cleaning and childcare, and tries not to have independent thoughts. Katie Collier's delivery is artfully phrased, her vocal tone shaped with affecting cadences which indicate she is unhappy being her husband's 'little pumpkin, little cabbage, little fool'.

Kate Collinson plays beaming, talkative, over-zealous June who, rather annoyingly, managees to achieve a 'flawless face at breakfast.' One half of the singing duo, Kate Collinson's tuneful voice is pleasingly mellow and she enacts the commercial interludes with high energy and comic ability.

Brylcreemed, bespectacled Matt Houlihan is superbly oleaginous as Hugh. The smug presenter's upbeat TV persona barely conceals his lascivious intentions towards the 'fine fillies' in the competition. Opening with a rendition of Frank Loesser's showtune Standing On The Corner, Matt Houlihan's singing voice is suitably smooth and controlled. The American accent he uses, while feeling right for the song, seems a bit at odds with his spoken accent (heightened RP). But it doesn't hinder enjoyment of his overall performance: his jokes and facial expressions bring belly laughs throughout.

Asta Parry's Ruby - in blue and white polka-dot dress - practically bubbles with nervous garrulity. Her spotlight moment reveals a woman in denial about her situation. She fills up her time with teaching, singing and dancing and has no time for 'moaning minnies who say they are lonely' – so she doesn't complain. Not even about her aching childlessness which, she is quick to point out, is not because she is a 'prude'. Like every good wife, she 'submits' to her husband. Asta Parry successfully creates an ostensibly warm, homely character whose unspoken desolation is palpable.

In little black dress and red peep-toe shoes, elegant Chloe Eve Thorpe plays co-host Sue with skill and a knowing glint in her eye. Her bickering sessions with Hugh feature Sue's parrying, acerbic wit. She counters Hugh's jibes and innuendo, verbally kicking against his crassness and chauvinism, and reacts to his comment that she's 'been young for as long as I can remember' with a put-down about his ageing memory.

Emma West, striking in a pillarbox-red dress and white belt, is excellent as the poised and ultra-competitive show-off Joan. Her Joan describes herself as 'a brick', is fixated with doilies, and declares that 'dinner parties are my forte'. Her extreme confidence comes before an unexpected revelation, which explains why her hard-edged stoicism is dangerously brittle. Her loveless marriage to Freddie in the Foreign Office nevertheless proves her worth as a true British 1950s housewife, inflected as it is with patriotism: 'He serves Britain and I serve him'. She is doing her bit for the country. Emma West's portrayal of this damaged character is classy and well-judged.

In black-and-red polka-dot dress and red slingbacks, Collette Winter plays a sweet, well-meaning Dorothy whose downfall is her Irish stew (not an English dish) and whose only joy is singing while she irons. Collette Winter sings Dream a Little Dream of Me with a haunting melancholy. She effectively portrays a dissatisfied woman who, like the others, accepts her lot, living on dreams and self-denial to cope with reality.

In a shiny red dress Claire Wood is the blonde Scottish singer Violet whose stigma is that she is unmarried. Her Violet notes that in church, women must 'love, honour and obey,' but that there is no mention of baking. Perhaps there is wry observational humour in her nature here, or perhaps it is naivety. Claire Wood's silky singing voice is perfectly balanced with Kate Collinson's in the duets' harmonisations. But it is in her rendering of Stupid Cupid that it has an opportunity to shine as she shows off rich smoky tones in her lower and middle registers and shimmering pearly tones in her head voice. Subtle swaying and finger-clicking adds style and evokes the period.

Director Nadia Papachronopolou demonstrates skilled staging and a feel for structure as well as passion for the period. High praise is due for achieving consistently strong performances across the cast and, in the devising process, drawing out some truly delightful characterisations. But further development is needed to push the characters' journeys into more exciting territory, and to indicate that women (even then) had it in them to bite back or break free, one day. It felt as if not one of these frustrated women would ever change their situation – perhaps in reality many women didn't, but feeling sorry for the characters being stuck where they are is not, in itself, satisfying enough as a story. There was a missed opportunity for wicked humour (as opposed to inter-female bitchiness) and surprise.

However, in collaboration with the company and its producer Christina McCulloch, Nadia Papachronopolou succeeds in putting together a thoughtful, enjoyable, witty piece, displaying flair. Vibrant Vivien of Holloway outfits are carefully selected from a palette of strong colours in which red, black, white and blue are dominant, unifying and strengthening the visual impact. The set (designer uncredited) comprises microphone, jukebox, 'On Air' sign (by Martyn Doust), two chairs, and blue-and-white gingham drapes. Its muted simplicity makes the colourfully-clad actors stand out. Credit goes to technical manager Eoin Furbank for well-cued lighting and sound, and to lighting designer Edmund Sutton whose contrast of the warm game show lighting with the colder 'confessional' spotlit moments is particularly effective.

Cast Credits: (alpha order): Jenny Bede - Donna. Katie Collier - Evelyn. Kate Collinson - June. Matt Houlihan - Hugh. Asta Parry - Ruby. Chloe Eve Thorpe - Sue. Emma West - Joan. Collette Winter - Dorothy. Claire Wood - Violet.

Company Credits: Writer - (Devised project written in collaboration by the PapaC Company). Technical Manager - Eoin Furbank. Director - Nadia Papachronopoulou. Lighting Designer - Edmund Sutton. Sound Designer - (uncredited). 'On Air' Sign by - Martyn Doust. Costume - Vivien of Holloway (www.vivienofholloway.com). Press & Marketing - Emma Green. Photography - Pavla Ondrova. Producer - Christina McCulloch. Company - PapaC Productions. Website - www.papacproductions.wordpress.com. Thanks To: Stephanie Sinclaire & The King’s Head Theatre. George Asciak. Ilias Caras (Flyer). Jeremy Green (Writing & Editing). Michael Lindall (Trailer). Cara Parry (Hair & Make Up). The Cast & Crew of 'Housewives of the 1950s'. Vivien of Holloway (Sponsor).

END

(c) Tara Paulsson 2010

reviewed Thursday 19 August 10 / King's Head Theatre, London UK

Fringe Report (c) Fringe Report 2002-2011

www.fringereport.com