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<strong>Kiln; Almeida; Dorfman, London<br></strong>In his quickfire new McCarthy-era play, For Black Boys… creator Ryan Calais Cameron speaks his mind; a civil rights musical buzzes with potential; and Deborah Bruce’s domestic abuse drama is full of surprises<strong><br></strong>
There is an invisible, brooding presence at the heart of Deborah Bruce’s all-female drama. Lurking behind almost every sentence is the memory of a patriarch, now dead, whose sexually abusive behaviour has left its mark on his family. Lives have to be pieced together again. It’s just a pity that, in spite of a smouldering central performance by Bríd Brennan as the sour, self-pitying widow Mary, momentum is dissipated in a meandering and awkwardly staged series of confrontations.
The script feels as if it’s constantly, energetically changing shape, often shooting off at random tangents that never reach resolution
Mary (Brid Brennan) is coming home to Yorkshire after a six-month prison sentence. As her daughters and granddaughter try to make her welcome, we slowly find out what dark secrets are being hidden within the paper-thin, gauzed walls of this ordinary house. Deborah Bruce's script is frank, funny, and sad.
But Deborah Bruce's brilliant new play – written following her time as writer in residence at Clean Break – also offers hope.