When Barbara Tressidor leaves her wealthy husband and elopes to Italy with the son of a coal miner she has known for only three weeks, she sparks a scandal which strikes at the whole of polite British society and has a huge impact on her titled family.

In this exquisite comedy, each of the affected parties makes their way to the isolated Italian villa to do battle in the fight for Barbara. Their displays of jealously, incomprehension, common sense and emotion are charged with the humour and pathos of real life. Whether Barbara will be persuaded to act with her head or her heart is uncertain until the very end.

The Fight for Barbara was performed at the Theatre Royal, Bath, from June to August 2003.