This is an intergenerational family drama, inspired by Greek myth, with a radical revisionism at its core. The ancient royals are replaced by working-class characters in Nottinghamshire and the play stretches across more than half a century in the lives of the Webster brood, whose trajectories we follow from 1965 to 2019.
Beth Steel’s large canvas reflects brawny ambition and magnificent fearlessness as the dead walk alongside the living and the surreal interrupts the real. It is a kitchen-sink drama that incorporates state-of-the-nation politics, and the generational damage within family life is shown largely through its women.
