The latest collaboration between writer Jez Butterworth and director Sam Mendes is a strange and enthralling female-centred family saga set in Blackpool, in 1958, and in the swelteringly hot summer of 1976. It’s packed with warmth, hurt and rich texture, and also with a fascination for eras the two fifty-something men will have known slightly or not at all.
A rivetingly assertive central performance from Laura Donnelly sets the tone for a strong ensemble cast and the play more than earns its three-hour running time, at least until the garbled ending. Mendes told me last year Butterworth originally handed him “half a play”. It’s now nine-tenths of a superb one.
