Wokeness, gender fluidity, the audacity of ageing … Madwomen of the West is a play giving ‘women of a certain age’ a voice – and audiences are loving it. We meet two of its outspoken stars, Brooke Adams and Caroline Aaron
Brooke Adams was a huge star in her 30s after appearing alongside a brooding Richard Gere in Days of Heaven, Terrence Malick’s tragic and masterful film about farm workers. But she walked away from the business in her 40s and instead devoted herself to painting and parenting. Adams was decidedly retired. “I had quit acting,” she says.
But actor Caroline Aaron, her longtime friend, had other ideas. “I tried to bring her out of retirement,” recalls Aaron, who has notched up more than 40 years in the business, most recently playing mother-in-law Shirley in The Marvelous Mrs Maisel. She approached Adams with Madwomen of the West – the timing was right, it was going to co-star other friends – and Adams agreed to appear in the comedy before she’d even read the script.
