The Second Best Bed

Ouch. This is funny. But uncomfortable. Christopher Green's acutely observant play stars Caroline Quentin as a feisty realist, underwhelmed by her life. She's taken to bed, intends to stay there, safe, protected, withdrawn. This permanent bedrest is to protect the world from her torrents of contagious emotion. Anyone who's lived a little will recognise her feelings and her domestic situation. It's her house but Rob, her partner, is also in it. And she's in the spare room in the second best bed where, as time drags by, she notices drawbacks.

In Christopher Green's comic one-woman drama Caroline Quentin stars as a spirited woman who has taken to her bed, permanently. At 39, she's feeling underwhelmed by life and has definitely decided not to have children. Retreating to the second-best-bed in the dingy spare room, she feels abandoned - her husband Rob hasn't even noticed. She's tried therapy and she's in pain but she's not changing her mind about motherhood, whatever anyone else might think. A poignant monologue that leaves you pondering the dilemmas facing all would-be parents.