Sam Walters' grippingly down-to-earth production of D H Lawrence's rarely performed play about dominating women brings alive the contradictions in the man who once wrote "is the woman, the great Mother, who bore us from the womb of love, is she the supreme Goddess?" Laced with subtle comic touches, it still evokes the visceral fears of a man who felt that the creator of life also stifled it.
The characters would never have heard the word oedipal, but when Joe Gascoigne comes home to a mother, Gorgon-like in her disapproval that he is late for tea, it is obvious that he is sucked in by her possessiveness.
Mrs Gascoigne's draconian attitude makes it surprising when she reacts well to the news that her elder son, Luther, has fathered an illegitimate child shortly before marrying - but it emerges that this is merely a priceless piece of ammunition in her war with his wife.
Walters paces his opening beautifully. For a couple of minutes, the audience only witnesses Rowena Cooper, as Mrs Gascoigne, engaged in the perpetual motion of domestic routine as a military strategy, further enforced by Cooper's formidable-as-a-tank persona. Octavia Walters counters her with wiry energy as the social-climbing daughter-in-law.
But Steven Elder and Alan Cox are so skilful at portraying the pathetic sons, that the female characters still seem to have the advantage. As Mrs Purdy, Jeanne Hepple is a delightful, gossiping addition. These miners' kitchens prove potent, emotional melting-pots.
The Daughter In Law
