Gary Owen has written a seriously good play, set in small-town south Wales, about violence, love and loss. But, for all the play’s sensitivity and insight, Owen in the end manipulates character to prove his point that the worst aspects of a macho culture are passed on from one generation to the next.
Owen sets up the situation beautifully. We meet 17-year-old Liam, still grieving for the mother who brought him up, and now living uneasily with his hard-drinking, violent father, Rick. When Liam brings home a friend and fellow Dr Who addict, Jen, we see both his touching affection for the girl and the disastrous impact of Rick on a burgeoning relationship. What is especially good about the play is its downright condemnation of a bullying male ethos and its acknowledgment that domestic violence has its own complexities: while the geeky Liam admits he provokes his dad on purpose, both Rick and his lover, Suze, are in abject denial about the realities of physical abuse.
Precisely because the play tackles a big issue with such honesty and truth, I find it hard to accept its final plot-contrivance. But this cannot diminish the force of Hamish Pirie’s Theatre Upstairs production, nor the impact of the performances.
David Moorst outstandingly catches Liam’s mix of smart-arse knowingness, sexual nervousness and aching loneliness. Jason Hughes as Rick conveys a permanent sense of danger, Morfydd Clark as Jen suggests the wariness of a girl who has stumbled into a domestic minefield and Siwan Morris lends substance to the more sketchily written Suze. A fine play that would be even better if it left the situation unresolved.
• At the Royal Court Theatre Upstairs, London, until 11 July. Box office: 020-7565 5000.
