The Wife of Cyncoed
Sherman Theatre, Cardiff

MATT HARTLEY’S The Wife of Cyncoed is a rare piece of theatre and writing that gets under the skin of a city and its working-class characters.

Vivien Parry plays 66-year-old divorcee Jayne who is feeling invisible, unfulfilled and used as unpaid childcare in her retirement. Parry’s solo performance, on stage for 80 minutes, is sensational, taking us through a gamut of emotions of misery, joy, ecstasy and self-discovery. The intimate setting of the Sherman’s small theatre means we can see every grimace, smile and gesture from Parry’s sublime monologue.

Writer Hartley has not only got the dialogue of working class characters off pat as they inch up the social ladder, but also captures in a believable way the dialogue of an ageing woman living her diminished life. He also captures Cardiff in its many neighbourhoods from the very working class Rhymney, from which Jayne has clawed her way up, to the much posher Cyncoed, before her divorce relegates her to the lesser environments of Roath.

The Cardiff audience roared with laughter as Hartley’s dialogue transforms through the different accents of the city’s enclaves.

Jayne pushing her grandson on a swing in Roath Park is hilarious as she depicts the joy and chore of being a grandparent and childcarer, but it is when she becomes aware of the older man pushing his granddaughter on the swing next to her that the show moves to a higher level of joy and pathos. Her breathless sidelong glances as she takes him in, from his John Lewis polo shirt to his physique and lovely deltoids, describing them to herself from her memory of the anatomy chart in her office as an NHS secretary.

The warmth of Jayne and Alan’s courtship and their eventual falling in love is tender and funny, and the moment they first become physically entangled on her landing as the grandchildren watch Toy Story downstairs is belly-achingly hilarious. Her observation of a globule of his cum dripping down her Anaglypta wallpaper as they sit on the floor together afterwards is worthy of Victoria Wood’s observational comedy.

The Sherman Theatre has a proud legacy of telling stories for the people of Cardiff, and this is a grippingly good piece of theatre.

Parry’s performance alone is worth seeing, but coupled with Hartley’s superbly sharp  dialogue this a must-see production and one that deserves to be regularly reprised.

Runs until March 23. Box Office: 029 2064 6900, shermantheatre.co.uk