Rebecca's husband left her for someone younger and thinner; high flying corporate lawyer Eleanor's husband left her for his secretary; Brian's wife walked out taking the kids and all the furniture; Lorraine and Dan's spouses' departures were pretty final - they both died.
Tim's wife left him because he was boring and predictable, although undoubtedly nowhere near as boring and predictable as Roger Hall's lame comedy of middle-aged dating and middle aged angst.
Hall seems determined to show through his characters the triumph of hope over experience; but for an audience in search of a truly witty romantic comedy, the evening only proves the triumph of experience over hope.
Soon Hall's unsexy sextet is discovering that finding love second time around is a challenge that even speed dating, introduction agencies and personal ads can't crack. The perfect match proves just as elusive as the jokes in the script. No wonder the cast all start wailing together about the pain of the singleton life, like a woebegone Greek chorus of lonely hearts.
Hall's play is a series of over-extended sketches that despite small moments of truthfulness is so determined to play it safe and keep the tone light and frothy that it never does more than scratch the surface of the cliches about love after 40 with two kids and a truck load of emotional baggage in tow.
There is a really good cast on board including Joe McGann as the plumber in search of a shag, Georgina Hale as the older woman who still really likes sex and Helen Lederer as the daffy unconfident Rebecca who protects herself from the world with a big sweater.
But even experienced actors like these can't inject this amiable rubbish with any urgency. After two and quarter hours I was ready to sue for divorce.
· Until December 20. Box office: 020-7794 0022.
