This compelling piece of theatre asks important questions about male power and the nature of consent, though that word is not used throughout a gripping 80 minutes. Lauren has asked Luke to narrate her story, framed by her investigation of a horrendous incident of domestic violence. It’s politically ‘sensitive’, and she is concerned by a serious crime apparently being trivialised; by the perpetrator, the victim and those around. Meanwhile, she is herself feeling a troubling unease that she can’t pin down. Gradually she recalls half-suppressed experiences from her own past life, from the ‘merely’ disturbing to the devastating. Even now she still doesn’t know what’s ‘normal’ and how and why she and others didn’t respond differently. Powerful, unsettling theatre.

Traverse Theatre, until 24 Aug.
tw rating 4/5 | [Alan Cranston]