Ruby and Betty have been lovers for 50 years on their own private Orkney island, away from the prying eyes and wagging tongues. But now the sprats are old trout, their tiny electricity-free croft is letting in the storm-force gales, and Betty is dying. Ever practical, Betty is constructing her own coffin so she can be buried on the island she loves with a driftwood cross and a garland of seaweed. How will the vain, girlish, almost blind Ruby survive when there is nobody to mend the leaks and pluck the hairs from her chin?
Commissioned by the Crucible from Sheffield-based novelist Lesley Glaister, this first play is not a great play but it is an unaffected and immensely enjoyable one. It spreads a warm glow across the stage despite its steely underside. The relationship between Ruby and Betty is so beautifully written - and fully realised in Anna Calder-Marshall and Rowena Cooper's exquisite performances - that you are completely drawn into the lives of these two gin-soaked elderly women, who are enthralled by the prospect of a biscuit, play their own private games, dance to the gramophone and squabble and banter like schoolgirls.
Glaister writes with affection and compassion, but she also suggests that, in retreating from the jibes of the real world, they have retreated from real adult maturity. It is a point underlined by a not entirely surprising visitation in the second half - although angels sent by God are always a little astonishing. It is a development that threatens discord and offers both possible salvation and the opportunity for Ruby to grow up.
Halfway through, I was struck by what a rare pleasure it is to see a new play that is rural rather than metropolitan, and that puts the old not the young centre-stage. Glaister should be encouraged to write a second play.
· Until November 8. Box office: 0114-249 6000.
