Hell’s kitchen plays host to YouTube rant

A British playwright and actress has vented her anger about her acrimonious separation from New York theatre boss Philip Smith via the internet, with a theatrical six-minute rant on YouTube. In the clip, which has become the talk of Broadway since it was posted on Friday, Tricia Walsh-Smith accuses her husband of using porn and Viagra.

Filmed in the kitchen of the couple's Manhattan apartment, Walsh-Smith - who is 25 years younger than her 74-year-old husband - talks directly to the camera and says: "We never had sex. He said it was because he had high blood pressure... Then last year I found Viagra, porn movies and condoms."

With the camera still rolling, she then dials her husband. Told that he is on a conference call she tells Smith's secretary to ask him what he wants her to do with his sex aids. The surprised PA screams: "Wait! Wait! Wait, you want me to ask him this now?" The actress, who has admitted having a drink problem, replies: "Does he mind what I do with his condoms and stuff?"

Smith is the president of the Shubert Organisation, one of Broadway's biggest theatre producers and the company behind shows like Cats, The Blue Room and Dreamgirls. His wife claims he is worth $60m.

Walsh-Smith is a former Benny Hill actress who had a West End hit with her play Bonkers in 1987. It is believed that the couple separated last year after the actress complained to a gossip columnist that her husband gave her a weekly allowance of just $240. Now Walsh-Smith seems to be getting her revenge, but the timing of the video suggests another motive. Her latest play, Addictions - which stars Trudie Styler and Christopher Biggins - opens in London's Duchess Theatre in early June.