The Odd Couple (Female Version) Press Releases

BASIC THEATRE COMPANY PRESENTS
THE ODD COUPLE (FEMALE VERSION)

MAY 28, 1996, SOMERVILLE, MA -- The Basic Theatre Company at the Boston Baked Theatre in Davis Square, Somerville, presents The Odd Couple (Female Version), beginning June 6 and runs through June 22, 1996. Neil Simon's gender-switch rewrite, which premiered on Broadway in 1985 (twenty years after the original), outclasses the old script in many ways. Some improvements result from the editing that would happen with any revision; however, the most effective changes can be ascribed to his reworking the script for women.

Simon has more fully developed the characters of the mismatched pair, while retaining the key to the play's humor. The original roommates blame themselves for singlehandedly breaking up their marriages and are fully aware of how they did so, but do absolutely nothing to change until the final scene. The female version provides a more balanced portrayal of two strong women with reasons for how they act. Whereas Oscar simply describes his sloppiness, Olive justifies hers: "My mind is into other things." Their former spouses were not perfect, either; "I'm married to a five foot three inch man with an oversized toupee and boots up to his knees who walks around saying 'Da'," Florence cries, "and he walks out on ME???"

Simon has also overhauled the play's secondary characters. The poker players exist mainly to give Felix and Oscar someone to annoy; when not reacting to one or the other, they have little to talk about. While the group scenes in the female version still focus on demonstrating Olive's and Florence's flaws, Simon took pains to establish the personalities of their friends as well. For them, playing the game is secondary to relaxing, talking, and spending time together on their weekly night out, and the dialogue reflects that. The game of choice - Trivial Pursuit - also contributes to fuller interaction, since the team play and mixed bag of questions gives the players more to respond to.

"I like writing women very much," Simon said in an interview the same year the female version opened. "Men are more closemouthed about their real feelings, whereas women, if the situation is right, open up." (The New York Times Magazine, May 26, 1985)

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