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The Daughter-in-Law
Arcola Theatre, London
THIS is a vivid revival of DH Lawrence's tale of working-class grit and deprivation, unstaged until well after his death.
It had to wait until 1967 for its premiere, but it has aged gracefully with its themes of class, sex, liberty and bondage still ringing true more than a century after it was written. It's set amid the simmering tensions of the 1912 national coal strike, which inevitably boil over in the Gascoigne home when Mrs Purdy (Tessa Bell-Briggs) arrives, bearing news of a scandal.
The action begins at the family table, where the conversation between Mrs Gascoigne (Veronica Roberts) and her youngest son Joe (the delightfully crisp Matthew Biddulph) reveals that they are both a product of their circumstance.
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