Review: Well Behaved Women, Fringe 2025

From the award-winning creative team behind 2023’s sell-out hit Crash and Burns, Veritas Productions returns with Well Behaved Women, a punchy, high-action period farce. The title is, of course, dripping with irony.

This is a story about three women who are anything but “well behaved,” and the show is all the better for it. Warning: it tackles society’s issues head-on, with triggers for sexism, classism, and racism.

Shenanigans at the Highest Level

The play introduces us to three unlikely friends sharing a grand house in the late 19th Century. There’s Marianne, the maid who dreams of a byline in a newspaper; Emma, the lady of the house who is navigating a secret same-sex relationship; and Hattie, their vivacious Caribbean friend and music teacher. Their domestic bliss, fuelled by late nights and copious drink, is shattered by the arrival of the piece’s true villain: Cousin Chester.

Chester is a hideous character, a belligerent male archetype who acts as a cannon firing every “ism” imaginable at our heroines, and by extension, the audience. To fight back, the women decide to fake a séance. This is where the farce truly ignites. To pull it off, you must suspend your disbelief and embrace the misbehaviour, especially when the “medium” is simply one of the women hiding under a shawl.

The slapstick is almost Buster Keaton-esque at times. Chester, bless his oblivious heart, fails to recognise the medium, even as the shawl is passed between the three women, each wearing a distinctly different coloured dress. The ensuing chaos involves characters running frantically around the stage, dressing up in top hats, and entering into drinking competitions. “These are shenanigans at the highest level,” but they serve a far greater purpose than just comedy.

A House of Harmony

Beneath the wild antics lies a sharp and vital commentary on issues that were wrong then and remain all too common now. The farcical plot is a clever vehicle to hide a Trojan horse of social critique. Chester’s authoritarian, intellectual-yet-idiotic posturing makes him the perfect foil, allowing the play to expose ugly prejudices without ever feeling preachy.

The house itself becomes a clear representation of society. When run by the women, it is diverse, equitable, and harmonious because they trust and respect one another. They always have each other’s backs, keeping secrets and offering unwavering support. Chester is the unwanted, unreformed macho idiot who turns up and disrupts this harmony, making everything worse. His presence underscores the play’s central point: society thrives on inclusion and solidarity, not on exclusion and bigotry. There is another male character, an ally, whose contribution proves vital, showing that dismantling the old guard requires good people to stand together.

Overall

Well Behaved Women is a triumph. It expertly balances laugh-out-loud farce with a powerful, timely message about the joy and strength of female friendship. The performances are energetic, the script is sharp, and the direction keeps the pace flying. It’s a wonderfully staged production in the excellent Patter Hoose, with a comfortable setup for a great Fringe experience. Whether you’re here for the activism or the theatre, this is one for you. An absolute must-watch.