Odd Couple of women

AN Odd Couple without Walter Matthau, as slovenly Oscar, and Jack Lemmon, as uptight Felix who invites himself to stay when his marriage breaks up?

It hardly seems possible, given the perfection of their mismatched pairing in the 1968 movie, but writer Neil Simon actually re-wrote his original play for a female duo – and thought it better.

"I like writing women very much," Simon told the New York Times in 1985, the same year that the female version opened. "Men are more close-mouthed about their real feelings, whereas women, if the situation is right, open up."

Local amateur company HATS (Holyrood Amateur Theatrical Society) obviously agree. They are bringing their own production of the female version of the play to the Scottish Storytelling Centre for three nights at the end of next week.

In this revised version, the basic story-line stays the same, with Oscar becoming Olive and Felix switching to Florence.

But this is much more than a gender-swapping update with the poker game becoming Trivial Pursuit and the English sisters, Cecily and Gwendolyn Pigeon, in the flat upstairs becoming the Spanish Costazuela brothers.

The script certainly has the extra polish you might expect from a re-write, but Simon's empathy for writing female characters comes out in other, more basic ways. The central characters don't just acknowledge their faults, they try to analyse them.

Using Trivial Pursuit to replace poker allows the secondary characters to develop, too.

Instead of existing to be foils to Oscar and Felix while giving a contrasting point of view on married life in a game that is all about hiding your feelings from your fellow players, the very format of the game allows the various women to open up to each other.

Olive and Florence's faults are still highlighted, but there is much more for the other performers to get their acting teeth into.

HATS director Mary Blackford says, "There are similarities between the two versions. One of the women is obsessively neat and tidy while the other is messy and chaotic, and ultimately that one simple difference is what causes all the angst and difficulties and laughter. However, this play does not depend on action, it depends on fast, witty dialogue."

Formed in 2005 and based at the Scottish Parliament – where they have been rehearsing since April – Holyrood Amateur Theatrical Society is open to anyone keen to hone their acting skills.

Although The Odd Couple is the company's fourth full-length play (their previous productions being Mary Queen of Scots Got Hear Head Chopped Off, A Scottish Play and last year's Rhapsody in Red) it is Blackford's first as director.

She admits, "I have only directed one play before and that was a short play, so this is a big learning curve for me but it's been incredible fun.

"We have a really nice group of people involved and we all get on incredibly well. The main problem has been that, because it is such a funny script, it is sometimes difficult to get the words out in rehearsals because everyone is laughing so much.

"The sheer amount of work has taken me by surprise, but this is amateur theatre and you have to be prepared to turn you hand to anything.

"For example in the professional theatre the director would not go around collecting props or tour charity shops looking for costumes, but in amateur theatre it is a real team effort."

That team effort will come together next Thursday when the curtain rises on Florence and Olive – Parliamentary assistant Kirsty Boyle and S&N employee Heather Rolls respectively.

Their director promises, "I'll be living every word with them and feeling for them because they are the ones on the stage and we don't have a prompt. That is by design because it takes away the crutch.

"However, if they don't know their words, nobody's going to tell them."

• The Odd Couple (Female Version), Scottish Storytelling Centre, High Street, next Thursday-Saturday, 7.30pm, £6, 0131-556 9579