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My Husband’s Wild Desires Almost Drove Me Mad

Reviewed by Holly Bartges

Dressed for a hot sexy night, Mrs. Griffin sits primping at her vanity set. Lusciously played by Kathy Cagney, dressed in a lacy pink dressing gown, Mrs. Griffin complements her attire with a sly pleased-with-herself smile. When someone arrives at the apartment door, her excitement rivals a high school senior expecting her prom date.

A scene from Denver Victorian’s My Husband’s Wild Desires Almost Drove Me Mad.
Photo by Dell Domnik

It’s not someone to sweep her off her feet, or even her husband, but the apartment superintendent responding to her call to fix the radiator.

While she’s answering the door, conversing with the Super, a Burglar creeps quietly into the room hurriedly searching for treasures. Hearing Mrs. Griffin return, the Burglar hides in a closet.

Charles Kolar plays Connelly, with diligent Superintendent intent to find the radiator problem.

Not-so-subtle Mrs. Griffin has other things on her mind.

Director Wade P. Wood has been wanting to mount John Tobias’ very funny play My Husband’s Wild Desires Almost Drove Me Mad for several years. Currently playing at the Denver Victorian Playhouse, a talented cohesive cast on a warm, inviting set designed by Rachael Lanning, the play springs to life providing frequent laughable moments.

What’s really very funny about the premise of this play is it could very well be an autobiographical confession, or a biographical description. Undoubtedly, with all of the how-to-books floating around on igniting the sexual spark in a well-established marriage someone, somewhere has decided to go down this road. In this case, the bumpy road happens to be Dr. Baumgartner’s book “Live Your Fantasy” taken to heart by the Griffins. On a not too bright and dense scale, Connelly assures her, he will indeed find the radiator problem, oblivious to her creeping advances. Slowly and meticulously, she works her way through a laundry list of coming on to him, finally offering him a drink. The radiator problem turns out to be easily fixable simply because it has been turned off. With Mrs. Griffin out of the room, Connelly takes advantage of the alone time to snoop through drawers and items on her vanity set. He almost opens the closet door where the Burglar hides, but changes his mind. Mrs. Griffin wants heat. “Not the kind that comes from a radiator.” Yes she’s happily married, her husband has a successful career with a ball bearing company, and they enjoy good social standing. It’s just that, well, things have cooled down, and she wants ”heat.” It takes Connelly several minutes to fully understand what she is talking about. Once he comprehends Mr. Griffin is away on business in Spokane, Washington, the possibility of an enticing encounter with Mrs. Griffin excites him. With her out of the room, he attempts an awkward dance around the bedroom searching for the stud living somewhere inside of him. In his excited awkward dance he opens a closet door, not to find the Burglar, but Mr. Griffin wearing a woman’s dress. Kolar is very funny in his unglued state of affairs as Cagney is in her determined sexual “come hither “ state of mind. Michael Balch takes the macho Griffin for a hilarious roller coaster ride flirting with his feminine side in a dress and red high heels. The Griffins have concocted a sexual fantasy and Connelly has been chosen to assist. The more they explain, the more she directs Connelly, the more intimidated he becomes. Yes, he can. No he can’t. He would like to go home now. No, he can’t. Of course, she knew her husband hid in the closet. Her son is at Princeton and they have a summer home in Westport. What Griffin lacks is a “get-it-up-ability,” convinced he could solve that problem if she were ravished by a “hairy brute” while he hid in a closet in drag. Impatience overtakes him causing him to yell directions to Connelly through the closed door. With the macho man shouting orders, and Mrs. Griffin’s determination, Connelly’s intimidated spirit melts around his ankles.

Griffin returns to his closet while she explains to Connelly what is expected of him. Her fantasy is she is a French aristocrat in the 18th century, hoping to be ravished by an employee.

Desperate measures call for desperate actions, and some people will try anything once especially when they want to save a marriage.

For a middle aged couple having reached a certain level of comfortable sophistication, he with a respectable well paying job, she carrying an adequate social dignity and respectability, surrounded by nice things, who definitely love each other, can sometimes find a certain spark missing. Such is the case for Mr. and Mrs. Griffin. Having fallen into the trap of too much routine, Mr. Griffin realizes he has a difficult time getting turned on.

In the circus atmosphere, the Burglar is discovered in the closet. Kevin Craft plays the Burglar as a teddy bear with a gun, loaded down with the Mrs. Griffin’s furs. Comedically adorable, Craft immediately endears the Burglar to the audience eagerly volunteering to participate in the fantasy. Ironically competition develops between the Burglar and Connelly. The very funny teddy bear burglar bristles when he is called a thief, insisting he’s not a thief, he’s a burglar. “Thieves work the street.”

Sparing over who could perform better in the fantasy, both struggle to crawl out of their state of intimidation. Between her over enthusiastic stage directions while reveling in her 18th century French aristocratic state of mind, and Griffin’s orders floating from the closet, Connelly complains, “It is hard for us to perform when women call all the shots.”

In hysterics because her stockbroker husband ran off with a teen-age neighbor, Mrs. Griffin’s sister, Louise bursts onto the scene. Annie Reiplinger creates a wonderful character warped in hysterics, shocked at the scene before her and falling head over heels in love with the Burglar.

Timing is crucial in this wacky development making the play laugh out loud fun. Wood’s direction keeps the tempo high strung. The lines come across “funnily” absurd because the characters mean them, and the actors give the characters room to live.

My Husband’s Wild Desires Almost Drove Me Mad comes to life at the Old Vic with rambunctious fun by an engaging cast. That’s a very good reason to call for reservations right now.