Playing with Grown Ups (Modern Plays) - Softcover

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 *

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.