SUTCo’s The Odd Couple (Female Version) – 26 February 2026, University Drama Studio
Review by Claire Taranaski.
Sheffield University Theatre Company’s hilarious new production is an updated version of Neil Simon’s 1980s female update of his original 1960s play of The Odd Couple. That’s a lot of updates but this production works, whilst also acting as a celebration of our differences, female friendship, Trivia Pursuit, Take That and classic sitcoms.
Told over four scenes, the play tells the story of Olive Madison who during her group of girlfriends weekly Trivial Pursuit night in Olive’s messy and ill-equipped apartment is fearful that their neurotic friend Florence Unger might attempt suicide following her marriage separation so invites her to move in as her roommate. However, Olive and Florence have very different personalities.
Kate Fraser, who reminded me of actress Romela Garai, who played Olive and Jess Ansbro who played Florence were both superb and the tension between the messy, laid back, eager Olive and the compulsive, neurotic, over thinking, clean freak, hypochondriac Florence grew to a wonderful two hander climax in the second half. Jess should also get an additional mention for her Moose call ear unblocking vocals.
Although their Trivia Pursuit playing friends may have described themselves as “Sex & The City” without the sex, their scenes reminded me more of early 2000s sitcom “Coupling”, making me want to rewatch it and in fact if this production could be turned into a weekly sitcom I would happily tune in. The friends (Mickey played by Polly Taylor, Sylvie played by Ava Hall and Vera played by Jennie Beattie) were at their best when moving as a group to support each other, whether protecting Olive from calls from her ex-husband to looking after Florence even before she arrived. The friendship between the 30-somethings felt genuine though my biggest shout out has to go to the wonderfully perky and ditsy Vera, who I instantly warmed to and would love to hang out with. This made it even better when Vera and Sylvie were used during scene changes for an audience interactive Trivia Pursuit quiz, with Vera maintaining the perky ditziness even in her Celebration throwing.
I mentioned this production was a celebration of classic sitcoms and the arrival of German brothers Hans and Gunther for a double date with Olive and Florence in the second half sent us back to the 70s sitcoms of misunderstandings “No Good” “Nougat” and cultural differences whilst somehow bringing it up to date. Toma Hoffman, who is always a pleasure to watch on stage and who I have realised with this production reminds me of a young Simon Farnaby, as Hans and Louis Josa as Gunther were wonderfully hilarious without pushing to far into stereotypes, though their jumps into bending on one knee must have hurt. Their three way conversation with Florence was a highlight of the show, especially when they all burst into tears that would give Janice from Friends laugh a run for it’s money.
I must praise director Abby Broido and assistant director Eden Houlberg for getting the best out of the cast including superb comic timing, chemistry and interaction with each other. Behind the scenes, I must also mention the co-props masters Carly McCollin and Lily Guram, especially after overhearing during the interval that all of the rubbish in Olive’s flat for the first scene had been accidentally thrown out by the university cleaners and so they had to find a stage full of rubbish on the day of the show (hopefully they do not have this issue for every day of the run) and also for their 15kg chicken prop. On the subject of rubbish well done for everyone behind the scenes who managed to clear the stage of it between scene one and two, whilst the audience was distracted. Costume designer Maisy Roberts and costume assistant Gail Annis must be praised for their costume selections, especially for Olive and Florence’s sophisticated dinner date dresses, Olive’s especially looked like it had been borrowed from Atonement, and Hans and Gunther’s choice in jumpers; and sound designer and operator Alec Turner and sound operator Alex Mackie, especially for the well-timed car alarm and dinner date ambience.
This production should not be missed by anyone who wants to turn the end of this wet February into a fun February, fans of comedic plays and classic sitcoms and who want to support some of the best student theatre in South Yorkshire.
