The long-awaited stage version of record-breaking television sitcom War Of The Genders has finally opened. It is quite the norm to stage theatrical adaptations of popular series these days, perhaps to cash in on television success at the box office.
Whatever the motivation behind this production, box-office success will have little to do with quality.
In the theatre version of a series, the audience would expect some interesting surprises not shown on TV. War Of The Genders certainly delivers them, but they are of the bad taste variety.
The surprises do not come from the plot which continues where the series leaves off: Miss Mo (Do Do Cheng Yu-ling) and Yu Lok-tin (Wong Chi-wah) become lovers and take over the law firm in the last TV episode. The live show contains no more than the ups and downs of their relationship and the competition with their rival lawyer Alex Pao (Lee Kwok-lun).
Instead of interesting plot twists, War Of The Genders resorts to unexpected innuendoes, which are definitely not TV material, to try to entertain the audience.
But the innuendoes are not suitable for family programming. Endless sex jokes are thrown out to the audience - 'camping out', 'ya-ma-de' and 'squeezing your bottle of detergent' are just a few. Together with the sexily dressed girls and seductive dances, I wondered why children under 16 were allowed in.