Good in Bed

Written and directed by Brenda McFarlane

With: Adrian Churchill (Love you Adrian!), Janet Snetzsinger, Francisca Zentilli & Karen Ivany

“Good in Bed,…deals with just about the toughest subject there is for theatre – sex.”

“…fast-paced sketches, monologues and routines that get right to the heart – or whatever body part – of the matter”

McFarlane shows a dab hand with lively, intelligent gag lines and often touches on the hard truths of relationships.”

From: The Globe and Mail
Friday, July 3, 1992
By: H.J. Kirchhoff

Good in Bed, written and directed by Brenda McFarlane (Scar: Got Her Lips Tattooed), deals with just about the toughest subject there is for theatre – sex. The opening question and springboard for the show is: “Was he good in bed?” What follows is 60 minutes of sharp and mostly fast-paced sketches, monologues and routines that get right to the heart – or whatever body part – of the matter. The show sometimes drifts close to sameness or stereotyping, but McFarlane shows a dab hand with lively, intelligent gag lines, and often touches on the hard truths of relationships.

There are plenty of naughty bits, and at some points things begin to get too close for comfort – when the house lights come up and two women actors discuss, in graphic detail, the sexual possibilities of randomly selected men from the audience, for instance. But generally, when the sexual politics becomes pretentious, or when the tension (sexual or otherwise) becomes too strained, McFarlane usually provides a barbed laugh to puncture it. The four actors – Adrian Spencer Churchill, Janet Saucier and Francesca Zambelli – have the bulk of the action onstage, while Karen Ivany sits for most of the show atop a high stool, occasionally crooning: “I want… I want…” – negotiating it all with dry aplomb.

H.J.K.