MEN, dating, finding Mr Right, and motherhood are explored in Sex In Suburbia, a new comedy starring – and co-written by - Claire Sweeney.

Penny Crowe (Lindzi Germain) is the host of a late-night radio phone-in and as Britain’s leading Agony Aunt, she takes calls about every date from hell and the occasional one from heaven. She is more than happy to dish out relationship advice, but is she as happy to take it?

Claire Sweeney joins Penny on her show as a working mum while Carl Patrick revels in multiple roles which take in frigid footie fans, karate chopping kids and outrageous radio host, Rory Reynolds.

Packed with revealing and raunchy storylines set to a backdrop of sensational musical anthems including I’m Every Woman, I Want To Break Free and Somebody Else’s Guy, Sex In Suburbia will make you laugh, cry and dance in the aisles!

As a way of keeping Sex in Suburbia ‘real’ with a capital R, audience members will be invited to share their own personal dating stories live on stage and will be rewarded with an Ann Summers goodie bag!

See the show, which is suitable for those aged 16 and over, in The Anvil on Thursday, March 19 at 7.45pm.

Basingstoke Gazette:

Q: Where did the idea for Sex In Suburbia come from?

A: All the appallingly bad dates my friends and I have ever experienced. We’d tell each other what had happened and get over the horror of the experiences by laughing about them.

Then, about two years ago, my close friend Mandy Muden and I started writing them all down in my front room with the notion of turning them into a comedy. At first we weren’t even sure if we were funny! But the play went down a storm with the audiences last year when it first opened in Liverpool.

Q: What happens in the show?

A: It’s all about the eternal subject of love and romance, and the quest to find Mr Right through a series of mainly unsatisfactory dating experiences. But we’ve tried to take the bad out of the date and make the audience laugh by helping them to see the funny side.

In the original show I played a relationship expert, but this time around I play myself – a working mum with a baby. I decided to update it because my baby boy Jaxon, who was born in September, has changed my outlook on life.

Q: Have you changed anything else?

A: Yes, I’ve de-Scoused it so that it will appeal more to a national audience. It was very localised before, about famous names and places in Liverpool, so I’ve taken out those references and made it more generic. However, all the dating stories remain the same – they can relate to everyone, wherever they’re from.

Q: Did you think twice about putting your own material in?

A: No, I found it liberating. I’ve changed the names and places but a few of the dates are based on my real dating experiences. I thought they were funny and I’m glad all the women who saw them in the show thought so too. You have to laugh in the face of adversity, don’t you? 

Q: What are some of the more outlandish dates experienced by friends?

A: Well, one of them found the macho man she was dating wearing a frilly rah-rah dress! There’s another extraordinary tale about a cross-dresser. It’s the true story of a woman married to an uncommunicative, unpleasant man who suddenly discovers that he likes to wear women’s clothes. After the initial shock, she becomes the best of friends with his alter ego – who’s softer, warm and kind - and it saves their marriage. There’s nothing vulgar about our show; we’ve made it sympathetic and most of all, amusing.

Q: Do women in the audience volunteer their own stories?

A: Oh gosh yes! We have a slot in the show where they can share their dating nightmares. Instead of ‘Blind Date’ we call it ‘Bad Date.’ We’d been hearing all these disastrous stories and decided to ask the audience if any of them knew the secret to a happy marriage. A woman who’d been married for years replied that her tip for marital harmony with a husband was that you should, ‘Just ignore him’.

Every woman brave enough to stand on stage receives a free goodie bag from our Ann Summers.

Q: Will the show appeal only to women?

A: At first we assumed it would be a comedy for women, but we’ve seen men coming, too. During a matinee performance I saw a whole group of fellas fill a row, and at the bar in the interval I asked them why they’d come.

They replied that one of their mates had seen it, loved it and recommended it and so they’d come along as part of a lads’ day out. There are elements of the show that men can definitely relate to.

Q: Do you think the dodgy dating experience is a modern phenomenon?

A: No, it’s always been like that. We know this because our audiences include women from all generations - we’ve had grandmothers, mothers and daughters coming to the show on a family outing – and they can all relate to many of the stories we tell.

Basingstoke Gazette:

Q: Who would your ideal date be and where would you go?

A: My guilty pleasure is Ray Winstone. I’ve never met him but he seems to get more and more fabulous as he gets older. He’s such a geezer, the type of bloke who’d look after you. A night out at the theatre followed by a slap-up meal would be perfect. 

Q: You starred in panto in Liverpool just seven weeks after Jaxon was born. Has it been difficult getting the baby/work balance right?

A: It was hard at first and Jaxon probably wants to know why he’s no longer being breastfed by a genie! I was playing the genie in Aladdin, wearing fabulous sparkly purple costume, and used to feed Jaxon in the interval. Some people said, ‘You should take time out and stay at home with your baby,’ but I’m a working mum who has bills to pay so going back to work so early wasn’t a case of getting my life back and getting back on stage; it’s what I do and I believe it’s possible to combine both successfully and so far so good!

Q: Will there be wedding bells for you and Jaxon’s dad, Daniel Riley, this year?

A: We’ve no plans for that at all. We’re taking every day as it comes with Jaxon and I’m full-on being a mum and preparing for my UK tour. I’ve relocated with Jaxon to my house in London and it suddenly dawned on me that the house isn’t baby-friendly at all, so I’m having all the sharp corners on tables and worktops softened and warm carpets laid on all the floors.

Q: Will you be taking Jaxon on tour with you?

A: Yes, a close friend is coming with me who will look after him while I’m on stage but he’ll be with me the rest of the time. I love him so much that I don’t want to be away from him. How lucky am I!

Tickets: £23.50

Box office: 01256 844244, anvilarts.org.uk