HOW strange it feels to be one of so few men in the theatre, surrounded by women laughing at the word penis.

Even when sitting in the seat nearest the stalls exit, so handy for a hasty escape, it was discomfiting. Yet, ironically, men could learn much from Marie Jones’ feisty comedy about women’s feelings on being condemned to the sexual scrapheap in their 40s.

For the women, it is one of those girls’ night out shows, a therapy session and a sympathetic group hug, with a frisson of sexual yearning.

The kind of yearning being experienced by Vera (Louise Jameson) but not fellow Belfast shop worker Anna (Janet Dibley).

Anna is content to plump up her Daniel O’Donnell pillow, dreaming of the Irish country crooner, whose summer tea party has brought them to his County Donegal hotel.

Discontented Vera is at odds with herself, the world and her former husband, who has married a girl 25 years his junior.

Vera is the play’s comic cauldron, caustic and unbowed, determined to find herself and a man, and Jameson’s performance is the sound of fury signifying something must change. Anna is the more reserved, yet with subdued feelings bubbling away in a more subtle characterisation by Dibley.

Into their room comes waiter Fergal (Aidan O’Neill), a loquacious young man drawn to the magic of Donegal and O’Donnell, who summons up husbands and new wives – all played by the chameleon O’Neill – through his special relationship with a banshee.

At this point, the play sags, becoming too repetitious in its format, and making the same point again and again, its mischief replaced by moaning.

■ Runs until Saturday. Box Office: 01325-486555.

Charles Hutchinson