The Sunday Times 4th February 2001
"The biological clock is ticking away for Linda (Yvonne
O'Grady), 38; she and Matthew (Matthew Radford), a biology
lecturer, cannot have a baby because of Matthew's low
sperm count. She had one miscarriage seven years ago.
They have now resorted to amateur fertilisation, with
sperm in a tumbler from their friend Barry (Tom Roberts),
an actuary who complains that he has had no sex during
the current financial year. Matthew is not giving up,
though, cooling his testicles with packets of frozen
blackberries and wanting sex all the time, to the point
where Linda begins to wonder whether he desires her
or the product. The problem is that Matthew is a top?flight
self-tormentor and, like all such men, an emotional
bully: it's my fault, so pity me, damn you. He has also
had an affair with a 23 year old pupil, Zoe (Sally Hawkins),
who has faxed him a photograph of - no, this is a family
newspaper. David Lewis's play is a tragicomic study
in frustration, both physical and mental; about what
happens when you want to give what you haven't got;
or have what nobody can give you. The comic writing
is spiky, painful, and sad; the tragedy is in the relationships
and the way they collide across the minefield of needs.
Simon Stallworthy directs briskly, resisting all temptation
to be over-funny or over-glum. Radford's masochistic
humour is horribly accurate, but he needs to watch his
voice: he tends to swallow the ends of his words. O'Grady,
watching herself with a tense, bruised face, in angry
resignation, is excellent. I can't wait for Lewis's
next play."
John Peter
Daily telegraph - 31st January 2001
There's pompous populism and there's entertainment
with substance.
"…for an instance of how an out-and-out entertainment
can possess greater substance without becoming preachy,
Godber could pay a visit to the Bolton Octagon, where
Simon Stallworthy has revived David Lewis's excellent
comedy "Misconceptions". Calling it a comedy my raise
expectations that this is laugh a minute stuff; in fact,
Lewis's account of a marriage that's hit a dead end
as a result of infertility (the man's) often has moments
of sour hurt and recrimination.
The humour lies in Lewis's inserting enough absurd
detail to make the couple slightly ridiculous without
debasing them. Linda has a phobia about rats. Mathew
- an adulterous lecturer who specialises in falling
sperm counts - is obsessed with his condition. Out of
desperation they have asked a dull accountant friend
called Barry to donate some semen, a request that makes
matters farcically worse.
Though the dialogue is overburdened with Mathew's biology
teacher theorising, Lewis displays an acute understanding
of the anxieties and suspicions that lurk in us all.
The acting is natural and assured. The show is accessible
and intelligent. Populist theatre as it should be."
Dominic Cavendish
