Modern Dance for Beginners is a play for two people written by British playwright Sarah Phelps. Synopsis The action of the play takes place over the course of a year and is set in the present, the very recent past and variable futures. All the characters are played by the same actor and actress with changes of costume taking place on stage in between scenes, each character helping to dress and undress the other. In the opening scene we meet Frances, a bridesmaid and Owen the bridegroom. They are in a hotel room on a late summer afternoon, having just left the wedding reception for a while. During the course of the scene a very drunk Frances complains to Owen about his wedding and ends up twisting him round her finger. The scene ends with Owen beginning to undress and Frances removing his wedding band. The second scene is set in the winter after the wedding in the kitchen of a large country house. Kieran, a handy man is fixing a leak whilst Julia is finishing an argument with her sister-in-law on the phone. In her rage having ended the phone call, Julia tells Kieran she wants a five-hundred-year-old wall in her listed house ripped down and then leans on the wall, forcing Kieran up against her, kissing him fiercely. She tells him to punish her and he declines, saying he is not a machine and doesn't see the sense in "all this urgency". Having calmed Julia down, he suggest that she does something "erotic" whilst he watches on from a distance. Julia declines and begins to explain that she is not satisfied with her husband. Kieran interrupts by swiftly walking over to Julia and putting his hand roughly up her skirt, lifting her onto her toes. Having done this he walks away from her. Julia tells Kieran he's only a handy-man, trying to assert authority but Kieran simply replies with "Yeah, aren't I just. All those little jobs around the house." There is a brief pause and Julia says "Don't make me beg. Don't make me beg you. Please." to which Kieran simply replies: That's more like it." The scene changes to a spring night in Frances' living room. Frances (wearing a gold ring on a chain around her neck) is having sex with Russell, a failing media publishing executive, in an uncomfortable position. As they are having sex,