Wives Have Their Uses

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Wives Have Their Uses
Written by Gwen Meredith
Date premieredNovember 23, 1938 (1938-11-23)
Place premieredSydney, Australia
Original languageEnglish
Subjectmarriage
Genrecomedy

Wives Have Their Uses is a 1938 Australian stage play by Gwen Meredith. It is a comedy.

The Sydney Morning Herald called it " one of the wittiest, most entertaining and best constructed comedies by an Australian author. With this initial full-length effort, Miss Meredith enters the front rank of Australian playwrights; for in no way is her work amateurish or derivative. It is not only keenly humorous and possesses a definite intelligent trend, but has a good psychological basis for its sparkling dialogue." [1]

Leslie Rees argued the play "seemed to break new ground — in Australia at any rate — with its Maughamesque wit and comedy of divorce." [2]

The play was performed around Australia in amateur theatres and helped launch Meredith's career. [3] [4]

Wives Have Their Uses was published in book form at a time when that was rare for Australian plays. [5]

Premise

A philandering husband has to deal with his wife at a resort.

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References

  1. ↑ "Witty Comedy". The Sydney Morning Herald . No. 31, 481. New South Wales, Australia. 24 November 1938. p. 5. Retrieved 24 July 2023– via National Library of Australia.
  2. ↑ Rees, Leslie (1953). Towards an Australian Drama. p. 124.
  3. ↑ "The Drama in Australia". The West Australian . Vol. 55, no. 16, 553. Western Australia. 22 July 1939. p. 5. Retrieved 24 July 2023– via National Library of Australia.
  4. ↑ Australasian Radio Relay League. (July 20, 1940), "Play Wrights of Australia Comedy and Sophistication", v. ; 24-38 cm., The Wireless Weekly: The Hundred per Cent Australian Radio Journal, vol. 35, no. 29, Sydney: Wireless Press, nla.obj-720018818, retrieved 24 July 2023– via Trove
  5. ↑ Australian Broadcasting Commission. (8 June 1946) [1939], "Gwen Meredith Is Writing Lawsons Novel", v.: ill. ; 29cm., ABC Weekly, vol. 8, no. 21, Sydney: ABC, nla.obj-1334110414, retrieved 24 July 2023– via Trove
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