Glass Eels - TNT

As in her previous award-winning play at this address, Nell Leyshon brings a brooding portrayal of rural Somerset to Hampstead. She paints a claustrophobic world of limited opportunity where children automatically take over where their parents left off, and which is ruled by the forces of nature. Her style is deeply symbolic, almost poetic, more intent on creating a mood than a story — and Mike Britton's evocative design echoes this perfectly with its splintering glassy ceiling tilted to reflect the encroaching water on the stage below. If you're looking for dramatic storylines or big laughs, you won't find them here. But in its well-acted portrayal of a teenage daughter's sexual awakening in the stifling summer heat as she, her widowed father and demanding grandfather come to terms with the watery death of a woman too young to die, Lucy Bailey's 90-minute production catches you up in its oppressive atmosphere and offers at least some hope for a brighter future for them all.
Hampstead, Eton Ave, NW3, 020-7722 9301. Until July 21

LOUISE KINGSLEY