Family secrets and lies offer endless scope for writers and fascination for audiences. The permutations are boundless. Nevertheless, three acts’ worth over three and a half hours (including two intervals) might be faced with trepidation and it is hugely to the credit of Stephanie McKellar-Smith and her talented team that this production of Letts’ acclaimed drama earned a standing ovation from opening night punters.

Contemporary Oklahoma is the setting, as a middle-class American family faces the aftermath of the patriarch’s suicide. Beverly Weston is an aging poet for whom alcohol has replaced the dark muse of his inspiration. But before he takes steps to drown himself, he engages a Cheyenne woman, Johnna, to be a watching and sustaining presence for his wife, who is herself addicted to the drugs which should be making life easier.

Weston’s disappearance and death force close contact for the whole family and the inevitable unravelling of the ties that bind them, as first one relationship and then another is held up to the harsh light of their new reality. Scene after scene lays bare the fabric of couples and sisters, parents and children, involving three generations and by association a whole society. Only Johnna, secure in her roots and patient in her unenviable job with this volatile family, seems to emerge unchanged.

The play builds steadily, as raw emotions are unleashed to several scenes of shocking intensity. Never short of crisp one liners, each scene contributes to the overall jigsaw, layering character and implication in a neat progression. What at first sight seems a vast set (from the meticulous design of Mark McEntyre) resonates with ‘adversarial’ revelations.

That word comes from the mouth of widow Violet Weston, the feisty matriarch who will be reduced to a whimpering shadow of her former self by the end of things. It is hard to imagine a more finely judged portrayal than the one crafted by Yvonne Martin. Imperious, demented and dignified in turn, it is she who demands the time for ‘truth telling’ which will change the dynamics of the family forever.

She is matched by Eilish Moran playing daughter Barbara Fordham, a bundle of spiky cynicism, facing down a failed marriage and her inability to manage the disintegration around her. From the whole cast, strong performances ensure that the forward drive of the play is never lost.

Sympathetic lighting design from Joe Hayes, whose spectrum suggests the burnt out end of summer, complemented by sound design from Hamish Oliver and perceptive costuming from Annie Graham ensures that the production operates as an organic whole, and an effective one. 

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