LOCKED down in a conference room overlooking the Cote d’Azur, the wives of the US and French presidents await the outcome of a summit conference debating joint military retaliation for terrorist acts in the US.

Zoe Wanamaker’s Helen, the previously married, considerably older wife and former teacher of her husband, bears striking similarities to Brigitte Macron while Zrinka Cvitesic as Sophia, the Yugoslavian born ex-model, is not a million miles from Melania Trump.

And their relationships with their husbands also mirror the current first ladies’ apparent roles — the first plays an active part in presidential political life, the latter is a trophy wife to be flaunted in public.

But Nancy Harris’s play is about much more than two specific individuals dragged into the international limelight. These first ladies are composite creations, sharing the experiences of many presidents’ wives.

Uneasily forced together by protesters and security teams, the two very different women gradually bond over their subservient and humiliating relationships to powerful men, both in the past and present.

Wanamaker ably creates the sense of a woman whose frustration, energy and down-to-earth manner reacts to the confinement and political crisis with restless edginess, while Cvitesic’s contrasting stillness and reserve is played as a calculated facade not a shallow affectation.

Both excel in Nicholas Hytner’s production as unfolding events reveal their true identities. Helen’s self-belief and sense of worth are gradually stripped from her in the face of her impotence and Sophia allows the mask to drop to reveal the real person behind the trophy wife.

Yet the other women are somewhat two-dimensional offerings — Nancy Harris’s proud, black single mother, an aide to the president’s wife, and Raghad Chaar’s immigrant worker seem to be there more for contrast than credibility.

If the outcome is contrived and strains belief, the substance of the play is not and the central performances are memorable in what’s an entertaining and engaging production.

Runs until October 26, box office: bridgetheatre.co.uk