Mark’s wry look at the gender gap

3:57pm Wednesday 4th April 2007

Defending the Caveman St George's Hall Forget self-help books - if you want to understand the differences between men and women spend an evening with Mark Little, who appears to have it sussed.

Despite its title, the one-man show was a funny, sweet and surprisingly touching guide to the gender gap, gently sending up and celebrating the differences between us. Like the way women will drive well out of their way to avoid getting lost using a shortcut, and men turn down the radio when they get lost in the car.

"Women co-operate, men negotiate," said Mark. "When we're sitting in with friends and the bowls of crisps and dips get low, women automatically work together to fill them up again. Men deny responsibility, pinpointing who bought the crisps, whose bowl it is and who poured the crisps into it. Whoever is left will have to re-fill the bowl. That's negotiation."

The show is based on the premise that differences between the sexes are buried in evolution - men are hunters and women are gatherers - and we should accept we'll never be the same.

Written by American comic Rob Becker, the show was a hit on Broadway and the West End. Mark's version reflects his own experiences of married life - the show started with an amusing film of him and his wife doing domestic chores at home - and his amiable delivery of familiar scenarios and anecdotes about relationships struck a chord with his audience.

"A man takes out the rubbish and gives the impression he's just cleaned his whole house," he told us. "But when something is bothering his wife, she cleans WAY TOO HARD."

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