This family story has its flaws, but the West End is better for its presence
It is certainly something to celebrate when a new play opens directly into the West End – and without star name billing on stage to underpin ticket sales.. At the shabby Sea View Guest House – slight catch: there’s no view of the sea – three adult sisters gather as their mother lies dying upstairs .
Jill is the drab and loyal one who has stayed at home unmarried, Ruby is glamorous but anxious while Gloria exists in a permanent swelter of rage. There is sceptical talk about whether long-absent sister Joan will make it home from the States in time for their mother’s last breath.
I remain unconvinced by the pivotal plot moment and the explanations, or lack thereof, of its ramifications down the years on all the sisters. Too big a suspension of disbelief is required to accept that so immense a secret could have been kept in a family once so tightknit. Donnelly is magnificent as Veronica, a strict single mother with intriguing moral grey areas, who runs the Sea View like a cross between a detention facility and Butlin’s. She blazes throughout, while Wilson, an actress I have long admired, simmers beautifully, suggesting all of the possibly agoraphobic Jill’s love, loyalty and stunted life chances.