Swedish puppet sex? It sounds like unlikely material for a theatrical production, but Erik Holmström's whimsical take on The World is Full of Married Men is a charming, lust-drenched frolic.
The production has travelled to London from Malmö Dockteater — Scandinavia's home of adult puppetry — and offers hilariously steamy doll porn woven loosely around a tale of romance, ambition and revenge.
The Swedish puppeteer's parable about the triumph of female confidence over toxic masculinity tracks Jackie Collins's eponymous novel, a 1968 bestseller so spicy it was banned in Australia, New Zealand and South Africa. Following the romantic fortunes of Linda, her errant husband David, and David's lover Claudia, the tale is a delightful romp through the shifting social mores of the 1960s.
Holmström crafts a virtuoso display, acted out in Swedish across a dozen onstage dollhouse sets, filmed live by videographer Josefin Beischer and relayed to a screen in larger format (with subtitles). Interspersed are scenes in which the puppeteers — Erik Olsson and Kajsa Ericsson — step out to perform in more conventional dramatic mode.
The newly refurbished Yard Theatre provides the tech to pull it off flawlessly. A concrete update on the original venue, it retains the same intimate feel, which suits a production built around handheld dolls. We're close enough to watch Olsson, Ericsson and Beischer dash from dollhouse to dollhouse, concocting elaborate acts of puppet penetration and sending the audience into gales of laughter. At the same time the space is big enough and well enough kitted out to make it all comfortable.
For Holmström, the London premiere is "bringing it home" to the novel's original setting — and for fans of the reborn Yard, it's a fittingly offbeat homecoming of its own.
The World is Full of Married Men
Until 1 August 2026
Yard Theatre, Queen's Yard, Hackney Wick E9 5EN
