Wives of Others

The Wives of Others is playing at the Edinburgh Fringe. They had their get-in at C Venues late Saturday night. Here are some of my favourite photos from their tech run.

New York City, 1955. Angie and her friends are having a dinner party. Angie and her friends are the wives of seven career-criminals in the underground world of organised crime, but they don’t like to talk about it. When the ‘job’ their loved ones are on goes awry, the emotional fallout starts to fracture their relationships, their sanity, and even Angie’s dining room.

Resplendent with chaos, profanity and Italian food, The Wives Of Others is a brand-new, pitch-black comedy from the writer of And The Horse You Rode In On and The Angel Rails, chronicling an evening for the world’s most inept gangsters, at the world’s most dysfunctional dinner party. Think Goodfellas meets 12 Angry Men; Agatha Christie meets Quentin Tarantino.

(Spoiler free version – well almost)

Posey Mehta sitting by a table holding a wine glass — Sal: *Hardy-fucking-ha, you’re a real joker!*
(Posey Mehta)

Emma Blacklay-Piech sitting at a table, bathed in red light — Angie: *You’re going to hell, you know that?*
(Emma Blacklay-Piech)

Intro scene of Wives of Others, the guests arrive. — Frankie: *It’s been years since we all did this…*

Julia Kass imitating — Frankie: *Oh, Mr America, kiss me like you’ve never kissed no one before!*
(Rebecca Vaa, Julia Kass and Emma Blacklay-Piech)

The ladies arguing at the table. — Frankie: *I love this little democracy we’ve got going on here.*
(Julia Kass. Emma Blacklay-Piech, Rebecca Thomas, Posey Mehta and Rebecca Cusack)

Posey Mehta on the phone, the rest of the wives eavesdropping. — Blackie: *Just sit down, Sal, where you calling anyway?*
(Olivia Gaunt, Rebecca Vaa, Julia Kass, Emma Blacklay-Piech, Rebecca Thomas, Rebecca Cusack and Posey Mehta)

Wives fighting at the table — Blackie: *I don’t mean to be rude, but could you keep your voice down and explain what the fuck you’re talking about!*
(Julia Kass, Emma Blacklay-Piech, Rebecca Thomas, Posey Mehta and Rebecca Cusack)

Rebecca Cusack death stare. — Junior: *Two of us? There’s two of us now, ma.*
Donna: *No. No there ain’t!*
(Rebecca Cusack)

Emma pointing a gun at Posey — Angie: *And in all that time, Sally, what the fuck have you told us?* (Julia Kass, Emma Blacklay-Piech and Posey Mehta)

Posey has been shot, Rebecca kneeling by her side. — Donna: *She dead, Jun?*
Junior: *Yeah, ma, she’s dead, really fucking dead.* (Rebecca Vaa and Posey Mehta)

Rebecca screaming at Posey. — Junior: *That’s just it, though, Mrs Gamboli. If I hadn’t been so pissed off with ma, I would have told them you was still breathing, and that would have been it for you!*
(Rebecca Vaa and Posey Mehta)

Olivia on the phone, talking to her husband. — Mary: *Oh and what should we do with the house? Are you sure it won’t catch? I mean I wouldn’t want anyone to get hurt – ok. Sorry, boss.*
(Rebecca Vaa, Julia Kass, Rebecca Thomas, Rebecca Cusack and Olivia Gaunt)

Gunfight, Julia has been hit. — Donna: *What do we do now?* Frankie: *I don’t know I’m thinking* Donna: *Well, don’t burst a fucking blood vessel.*
(Julia Kass, Rebecca Vaa, Olivia Gaunt and Rebecca Cusack)

Rebecca lying on the floor. — Junior: *Fucking Blackie… Jesus.*
(Rebecca Thomas)

Rebecca lying on the floor, with Emma in the background holding a gun. — Donna: *Who the fuck is it?*
Frankie: *State your name and purpose!*
(Rebecca Thomas and Emma Blacklay-Piech)

Emma gets shot, lying on the floor surrounded by chairs. — Junior: *We may have a problem.*
Donna: *Thank Christ you’re here to state the completely fucking obvious.*
(Emma Blacklay-Piech)

The wives arguing hidden behind a table about what to do next. — Mary: Where the fuck is the bomb? Frankie: What? Donna: *The bomb.* Mary: *Where’s the bomb?*
(Rebecca Thomas, Julia Kass, Rebecca Vaa, Olivia Gaunt and Rebecca Cusack)

Closeup of Rebecca lying dead on the floor. — Donna: *Angie would… Angie would never..*
Junior: *Angie just killed Blackie, Ma, you figure it out.*
(Rebecca Thomas)

Rebecca screaming in anger. — Donna: *Angie’s dead. Sal’s gone. We’re in the clear.*
[Sirens approaching]
Donna: *Fuck!*
(Julia Kass, Rebecca Vaa, Olivia Gaunt and Rebecca Cusack)

Posey arrives, dressed in a police uniform holding a gun. — Sal: *Eight fucking months with you people and you never fail to make me laugh.*
(Posey Mehta)

Posey disarmed. Ladies are pissed off. — Sal: *I know you, Donna, and so do all the NYPD out there. Your only ticket out of here is to keep me alive, or hand yourselves in.*
(Rebecca Cusack, Posey Mehta, Olivia Gaunt and Julia Kass)

Olivia holding a gun. — Mary: *Stop talking like we’re you’re fucking friends or something, it’s so confusing!*
(Olivia Gaunt)

Posey and Rebecca. — Sal: *I’m the best friend you have right now.*
(Posey Mehta and Rebecca Cusack)

Rebecca stabbing her daughter Rebecca. Mother-daughter fight. — Junior: *Think of Pa…*
(Rebecca Vaa, Posey Mehta, Rebecca Cusack and Olivia Gaunt)

Rebecca in pain, Posey looking on. — Junior: *Ma, get me a fucking drink.*
(Rebecca Vaa and Posey Mehta)

Rebecca yelling at Rebecca. — Junior: *Ma. Look at me. Speak to me!*
(Rebecca Cusack and Rebecca Vaa)

Cat fight. — Junior: *I hope you go to hell and I hope you burn!*
(Rebecca Cusack and Rebecca Vaa)

Posey with a gun. — Sal: *How fucking touching.*
(Rebecca Vaa and Posey Mehta)

Gun stand-off again. — Frankie: *I know how she made you feel, Jun.*
Junior: *Fuck you, Frank, nobody knows.*
(Posey Mehta, Rebecca Vaa, Olivia Gaunt and Julia Kass)

Rebecca in pain, screaming, crying. — Junior: *I have nobody, Frank, nobody! I am seventeen years old and I’m completely alone.*
(Rebecca Vaa)

Closeup of Julia comforting Rebecca. Posey and Olivia with guns in the background. — Junior: *It looks like neither of us can have the things we want.*
(Posey Mehta, Rebecca Vaa, Julia Kass and Olivia Gaunt)

Rebecca dies in Julia's arms. — Frankie: *Hey, we’ll get out of here, and we can start over, alright?*
(Rebecca Vaa and Julia Kass)

Olivia pointing gun at Posey. — Mary: *Please put it down, Sally, I don’t wanna do this.*
(Olivia Gaunt and Posey Mehta)

Closeup of Posey's face. — Sal: *You act as if you’re some sort of fucking victim, Mary, but you’re not. Who cares about you?*
(Olivia Gaunt and Posey Mehta)

Julia and Rebecca. — Sal: *You ain’t going anywhere with a leg like that, so just drop it. If I wanted to kill you, you’d be dead already.*
Frankie: *Most of us are.*
(Julia Kass and Rebecca Vaa)

Olivia aiming the gun. — Mary: *I fucking hate dinner parties, I just want to go home.*
(Olivia Gaunt)

Posey disarm's Olivia. — Mary: *Don’t make her kill me, Frankie!*
(Posey Mehta and Olivia Gaunt)

Olivia sad at the table. — Mary: *Is there anything left to drink to?*
(Olivia Gaunt)

Julia trash-talking Olivia. — Frankie: *You fucking witter away in the background and never say anything of fucking consequence.*
(Olivia Gaunt and Julia Kass)

Olivia dead. Julia and Posey left. — Mary: She tricked us. There weren’t never nobody out there. I’m right, Frank, please –
Sal: *She is, Frank.*
(Julia Kass, Posey Mehta and a lot of dead wives.)

Emma rises from the dead. — Sal: *Officer down! Officer down!*
(Posey Mehta, Emma Blacklay-Piech, Julia Kass and Rebecca Vaa)

Emma takes revenge on Posey. — Angie: *My house, my fucking rules.*
(Posey Mehta and Emma Blacklay-Piech)

For more photos from the Edinburgh Fringe, see the Fringe tag on the blog.

Cast
Angie – Emma Blacklay-Piech
Frankie – Julia Kass
Blackie – Rebecca Thomas
Donna – Rebecca Cusack
Mary – Olivia Gaunt
Sal – Posey Mehta
Jun – Rebecca Vaa

Production Team
Co-Director – Rebecca Cusack, Rebecca Thomas
Producer – Helen Lam
Costume Designer – Marina Anastasi
Stage Manager – Khushali Dodhia
Technical Director – Sheralyn Loh
Assistant Producer – Freddie Cooke
Publicity Designer – Anthony Rubinstein
Trailer Creator – Herta Gatter
Tech Rehearsal Photographer – Johannes Hjorth
Associate Director – Tom Stuchfield
Publicity Headshots – Emma Blacklay-Piech

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