I wonder if Dame Maggie Smith could have made it work (if she had done this play 20 years ago). I saw her in a play talking about her life as a pastor's wife. The setting was just Maggie Smith sitting in a chair talking - there might have been a table, I can't remember - but no matter, she didn't need anything else.

It's a tragegy that all she's given to do these days are caustic grandmas or old maids in historicals.