Producer: Between the Bars Theatre Company
Author: Gina Gionfriddo
Director: Cat Nicol
Venue: Corpus Playroom, Cambridge
Performance: 30 September 2026

An exceptionally well-written play that keeps the audience on the edge of their seats as its intense drama unfolds. Between the Bars Theatre Company has created a wonderfully tense, people-centred production that works particularly well in the intimacy of the Corpus Playroom, with a talented cast bringing all the simmering emotions to the surface.

Max and Suzanna open the play with Suzanna mourning the loss of her father. Max is her caustic, wealthy adopted brother, taken in by her parents after his mother’s death, and he is determined to snap her out of her ‘moping’. A few months later, Suzanna marries Andrew, and the newlyweds set Max up on a date with Andrew’s new colleague, the supposedly ‘fragile’ Becky Shaw. What could possibly go wrong?

The evening starts awkwardly and rapidly gets worse as Becky and Max head off for dinner, while Suzanna frets about her mother, Susan, and her new partner. When the date goes disastrously wrong, Andrew becomes so sympathetic towards Becky that Suzanna begins to fear losing him. As loyalties shift and hidden motivations emerge, the question is how – or whether – any of them can emerge unscathed.

The cast bring these complex characters to life with remarkable clarity and chemistry, while retaining just enough ambiguity to leave us wondering whether Becky is genuinely needy or highly manipulative. The tangled relationships and dependencies become immediately apparent, thanks to both the excellent performances and Gionfriddo’s incisive writing.

Cat Nicol’s direction is excellent, skilfully balancing the play’s sharp humour with its darker and more uncomfortable moments. She keeps the pace taut and the tension steadily building, while allowing the complex relationships between the characters to develop. The staging makes particularly good use of the intimate space, ensuring that every glance, reaction and shift feels significant.

Catriona Clarke is superb as Suzanna, and she and Matthew Bairstow as Max establish the complicated dynamic between the (effectively) siblings brilliantly. Both maintain an extraordinary intensity throughout, capturing the affection, irritation and dependency that underpin their relationship.

Tim Drummond is excellent as Andrew, the emotionally robust adult Suzanna needs in her life, but whose hero complex inevitably draws him towards vulnerable women. Stephanie Swan embodies Becky’s manipulative qualities perfectly. From the minute she enters the stage, the dynamics between the characters visibly shift. Sarah Ingram, meanwhile, brings a wonderfully solid, no-nonsense presence as Suzanna’s mother, Susan, keeping everyone grounded with her pragmatic take on reality.

The simple but versatile set works effectively across the different locations, from hotel rooms to apartments, while the technical design adds another layer, with voiceovers and lighting cleverly evoking television and film.

Overall, this is a compelling evening of drama: intelligent, uncomfortable and often darkly funny, with an audience thoroughly absorbed in this clever exploration of relationships, dependency and the ways in which people manipulate each other.

A gripping 5* production of a brilliantly crafted play. Don’t miss it.

Photos credit. Paul Ashley