He’s had the John Deere 9750 combine harvester for a long, long time but 59-year-old bachelor farmer Cyril Evans is prepared to give it to a woman of “breeding age” who will marry him. So says the ad that he’s run in Queensland Country Life – and that’s what kicks off a chain of events that resemble mediaeval warfare in a small-town rural setting. Mixing intrigue, passion, subterfuge, and internecine warfare over land ownership, Farmer Will Swap Combine Harvester for a Wife is, in all, a wonderfully funny play from the masterly pen of Hugh O’Brien.
Cyril and Delmay were in love but things got complicated because of his mother and attempted empire-building so Cyril put the ad in the paper and several women – and a man – turn up but not everything is the way it seems to be so things get more complicated but the combine harvester gets repaired and there was a baby …
Really, the best thing you can do is come to see the show. It’s a beautifully written comedy with a strong undercurrent of a serious social issue. Produced by MATES, it opens at Redland Museum on 26 January; for more information ring the Museum on 3286 3494 or go to https://www.redlandmuseum.org.au/whats-on/events/.
