Good grief! A play ostensibly about the collapse of middle-class manners (think Abigail’s Party) proves to have greater depth. It’s an insightful examination of differing responses to grief and the death of a loved one. It is insightful, too, on ageing and generational difference. This crackerjack of a play is also a reminder that theatre is crucially a literary form; some of the histrionic speeches are classics, yet there is sensitivity in the language too. All of the characters, if sometimes over the top, are well drawn, including the eponymous ‘so young’ new partner, quietly more than a blank page on which the older protagonists project their thoughts and feelings. More high value theatre from the Traverse.

Traverse Theatre, until 25 Aug.
tw rating 4/5 | [Alan Cranston]