HARPER REGAN - This is London

In an already fragile situation, the imminent death of a parent sends 41 year old middleclass Harper right off the rails in Simon Stephens' episodic new play. In a series of often slightly bizarre encounters, it follows her as, without a word, she walks out on her family and disappears back to her Manchester roots to visit, too late, her dying father.
There's a fascinating, emotionally disjointed quality to the distinct scenes which, physically, merge fluidly into one another as Hildegard Bechtler's economical but atmospheric set glides and rotates to create yet another anonymous environment – the Uxbridge office where her disconcertingly weird boss refuses to give her compassionate leave because the timing isn't onvenient; the canal bridge on which she engages a bemused young student in conversation; a vast two-storey hotel room where she arranges to meet Brian Capron's gentlemanly stranger in search of no-strings extra-marital sex.

In the pivotal role of Harper, Lesley Sharp gives a riveting performance of desperation and troubled vulnerability as she confronts her estranged mother (Susan Brown), then imparts the truths she herself hadn't wanted to hear to her own teenage daughter (excellent Jessica Raine). And, as Harper's personal odyssey draws to an end and the strains her husband's actions have put on the whole family are acknowledged, Marianne Elliott's sympathetic, well-acted production finally suggests that her journey has, perhaps, brought them all to a more comfortable place of acceptance and a workable future.
Cottesloe Theatre.
Louise Kingsley