In Debbie Bird's one-woman show Buzzing, she introduces us to Julie, a chirpy fifty-year-old divorcee. Julie is eager to figure out what she's been missing all this time in her passionless marriage and is frustrated by the assumption that women of her age are completely desexed or stereotyped as lust-mad cougars.

So begins a shaggy series of vignettes as Julie goes out dancing, tips her toe into the world of Tinder, and discovers the intricacies of the modern sex toy. The show also touches on menopause, infidelity, and body image.

This might all sound modern and urgent, but watching Buzzing, I felt like I was viewing a revival of a show from the early 2010s. While the message is unquestionably noble, the content is not as groundbreaking as perhaps the show seems to think. It might make you faintly uncomfortable, but, like its main character, it works hard not to actively provoke. Still, it raises some good points and charms in a slice-of-life kind of way.

Bird’s characterisation of Julie veers between earnest everywoman and an affectionate parody of a buttoned-up fish-out-of-water divorcee. There’s potential in either of these routes, but the resulting tonal whiplash made it hard to know how seriously to take Julie. There are slapstick bits, where Julie struggles to step into a PVC miniskirt, and endures the horrors of a bikini wax, which feel tired.

Hollywood still has an undeniable problem with accounting for the inner lives of any women over fifty - but things are improving, at least superficially. Sandra Bullock and Julia Roberts both starred in romantic comedies this year. And Just Like That… brought Sex and the City back, rejoining its leads in middle age. Olivia Coleman, Frances McDormand, Julianne Moore and Cate Blanchett are all still taking on sensuous and challenging roles - and winning Oscars for them.

Menopause is also still not given enough of a spotlight in public discourse, considering how debilitating it can be, and how many people suffer in silence with it. But the show largely glazes over the effects (‘Oh, what I’d do for a hot flash right now!’ Julie jokes, waiting in the cold for a bus). This struck me as a missed opportunity to deeply connect with an audience in desperate need of representation.

Another challenge was the strangely lacking structure. The play starts after Julie and her ex-husband have broken up and consists of a largely stream-of-consciousness journey through her thoughts on desire and self-esteem. It would be a stand-up show, but - while humorous - it's not primarily funny, nor is it pacy enough. There are a few scene changes - a nightclub for example – but these are not deeply inhabited. You never lose the feeling that this is being told to you after the fact. Things happen, but they never quite link into a plot. There are a few wholly unnecessary costume changes, which leave the audience sitting in the darkness listening to eighties music for minutes on end. Vignettes last only a minute or two for the most part, and the men Julie meets on various dates are only faintly drawn. This makes it all the more jarring when the climax of the show stars a brand-new character, taking centre stage for a long monologue.