About the Play:

The Odd Couple: Female Version has long been a favourite of acting teachers for Female/Female Scenes.

The female version of The Odd Couple is a full-length comedy by Neil Simon. Comic trouble with Unger and Madison – Florence Unger and Olive Madison, that is, in Neil Simon's hilarious contemporary comic classic: the female version of The Odd Couple.

The Odd Couple is the epitome of quick-witted, laugh-a-minute New York humour, and in this female version, rather than Felix and Oscar, we meet Florence and Olive. Olive Madison is a successful news producer who seems in control of the world and her life, but is she? Instead of the poker party that begins the original version, Ms. Madison has invited the girls over for one of their regular Friday night games of Trivial Pursuit. The Pidgeon sisters have been replaced by the hilarious Constanzuela brothers. It is painfully obvious that Olive leads a somewhat dishevelled home life. She decides to take in Florence Unger, whose husband has just told her he wants a divorce. Florence is a model homemaker, a clean freak, and seems to have many ailments. Together, Olive and Florence make up The Odd Couple, to the delight of audiences everywhere.

The female version of The Odd Couple premiered in 1985 at the Broadhurst Theatre on Broadway. The play has become a favourite scene study vehicle in acting classes and workshops and has become a staple of community theatres, regional repertory houses, and high schools.

Cast: 6 female, 2 male

What people say:

"Very funny indeed." — New York Post

"Endearing." — USA Today

Neil Simon (1927-2018) was America's most prolific playwright. He had dozens of plays and nearly as many major motion pictures produced. He was showered with more Academy and Tony nominations than any other writer, and is the only playwright to have four Broadway productions running simultaneously. His plays have been produced in dozens of languages, and in 1983 became the only living playwright to have a New York theatre, the Neil Simon Theatre, named in his honour. His true success, however, is in his unique way of exposing something real in the American spirit.