Alan Ayckbourn’s play Woman In Mind, which premiered in 1985, returns to the London stage, starring Sheridan Smith.

The Story

Woman in Mind centres on Susan, a vicar’s wife living in an English country garden who suffers a mental breakdown following a blow to the head. As the play unfolds, Susan retreats into a rich fantasy world that exists alongside her bleak reality.

In her imagination, Susan is admired, listened to and surrounded by a loving, successful family who treat her with warmth and respect. This idealised family contrasts sharply with her real life, where she feels ignored, belittled and emotionally neglected by her husband, son and sister-in-law.

As Susan’s mental state deteriorates, the boundaries between fantasy and reality begin to blur. The imaginary characters increasingly intrude into real conversations, and Susan struggles to distinguish what is real from what she has created to protect herself.

The play moves from light comedy into darker psychological territory, revealing the damage caused by emotional neglect and the fragility of the mind when basic needs for love and attention are unmet.

By the end, Woman in Mind exposes the consequences of isolation and the power of fantasy as both a refuge and a danger, leaving audiences unsettled as Susan’s grip on reality slips completely.

Set in Susans small garden, the play nicely shows the difference between fantasy and reality by using the safety curtain on stage. When it is down and Susan is sitting on the tiny stage, this is her reality. But when the curtain rises, revealing a beautifully large and lush greenery, this is her imagination.

The Cast

Sheridan Smith, one of England’s great actors of our time, shines in every role she plays and I adore her (her portrayal of Fanny Brice in Funny Girl in 2016 was wonderful and Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat in 2019).

But unlike her TV work, where every show she puts her name to is a grippy and gritty drama that has you on the edge of your seat, her stage choices more recently, feel rather bland.

First there was the tragedy of (one of my favourite music artists) Rufus Wainwright’s musical Opening Night, which made no sense at all and now this rather head scratching story of a woman gone mad. Can we just bring the musical Blood Brothers back to the West End and cast Sheridan as Mrs. Johnson – a role she was born to play and a show that she will be adored in?

The rest of the cast are good but very much playing second fiddle to what is essentially a one-person-performance by Sheridan. Romesh Ranganathan plays Bill alongside Louise Brealey as Muriel, Tim McMullan as Gerald, Sule Rimi as Andy, Chris Jenks as Tony, Safia Oakley-Green as Lucy and Taylor Uttley as Rick.

Is it good?

In a world where there is so much choice of what theatre productions to go and see in the West End and with ticket prices being higher than ever (top price tickets for this show are £225), audiences deserve to know that their hard earned money is being spent on something wonderful.

Taking a punt on a new piece of writing is a risk but a forty year old play, being revived in the West End should be because it is brilliant. Sadly, this is just rather boring and I had to google the story after the show because I had no idea what was happening!

★★

West End Wilma

Woman In Mind plays at Duke of York’s Theatre until 28 February 2026.

It will then play at the Sunderland Empire from 4 March until 7 March 2026 and Theatre Royal, Glasgow from 10 March until 14 March 2026.