Unearthing Lawrence's dramatic gems

How blinkered, how narrow-minded we are to neglect the extraordinary plays written by D. H. Lawrence early in the 20thcentury.

David Lan's atmospheric, beautifully observed production of The Daughter-In-Law vividly reminds us Lawrence was the first English playwright in the modern period to bring subtle, realistic portrayals of impoverished workingclass life to the stage. And in Lan's meticulous rendering you gather a strong impression of how the miners' community scraped by.

There is no kitchen-sink, just a small bowl in which the young miner, Luther, washes his begrimed body and his wife, Minnie, does the dishes. How very different from the life of Edwardian middle-class dramas. The Daughter-in-Law does not, however, serve as a period equivalent of EastEnders. It's pyschologically complex and astute, a play about marriage and family relations, and involves women's liberation at a time when the battle for women's rights was turning violent.

The play's crisis of love and antagonism is precipitated by the news that the last girlfriend of recently married Luther is four months gone. When Luther's wife, Minnie, hears this news, the already rickety marriage begins to fall apart, while a miner's strike intensifies the conflict.

The married couple fight a terrific, wounding war of words that has more to do with male pride and female independence than Luther's old dalliance. Anne-Marie Duff, impressive as a socially superior but emotionally fragile Minnie, battles against Paul Hilton's insecure, aggressive Luther and the predictably superb Marjorie Yates, who's all dour flintiness as the miner's possessive mother. The victory Minnie scores in saving her marriage and neutralising maternal influence fascinatingly confirms her position as an empowered New Woman.

The Daughter-In-Law