Overheard in the Theatre
At the National Theatre, in London, at a matinee performance of The Motherf**ker with the Hat. Several ladies of a certain senior age sat behind me. They all knew each other. I heard the delicate chirping of genteel ladies talking. “I have sweeties. Maureen, would you like a sweetie?” Maureen indeed wanted one, as did others of the group. Next came the sound of cellophane crinkling as they struggled to unwrap said sweetie, followed by vigorous sucking and slurping and rattling as the hard sweetie hit teeth or denture.
Then one of them commented on the eye-brow-raising title and how they wondered how to say it in polite company. That made them all laugh. The same lady noted how one of her friends was in a very good seniors home and how everything was done for them. She said quietly, by way of example: “Would you like me to make a cup of tea? …Take you for a walk? Scratch your arse?
This last had them break out into peels of laughter and me sit bolt-upright, eyes wide. I stopped myself from turning around and smiling.