Mrs. Stancliffe’s Rose Cottage Bed & Breakfast has been successful for many years. Guests (nearly all women), return year after year. Her next-door neighbor, the silver-tongued Bud Davis believes that they return to spend time with “Bud the Stud” in romantic liaisons. The prim and proper Mrs. Stancliffe, of course, steadfastly denies this. Her other neighbor, Henry Mitchell, a retired chemist, has developed a little blue pill patented under the name “Venusia” after Venus, the goddess of love, to increase the libido in menopausal women, specifically Mrs. Stancliffe’s. The only problem is he doesn’t know if it works or not. Bud, inadvertently gets his hands on some of the “Venusia” pills and the fun begins as the guests begin to arrive. First we meet Victoria Ambrose, a romance novelist whose personal life seems to be totally lacking in romance. Next, we meet Hillary Hudson, Henry’s “guest”, who has agreed to test the “Venusia”, in the name of science, and finally there is Charmaine Beauregard, a quintessential southern belle, whose libido certainly does not need to be increased. Bud attempts to entertain all three women, but even “Bud the Stud” cannot maintain the frenetic pace of three women, in three rooms, at the same time. Mix in a little revenge, as the women mix-up Bud’s Viagra pills with the “Venusia” and we soon discover that the “Venusia” has a strange effect on men. It gives them all the symptoms of a menopausal woman, complete with hot flashes, mood swings, weeping, and irritability. Does Venusia have any affect on the women? This is a Parker play and you know there’s always a surprising, unexpected twist at the end.
