Starting slowly, the three plotlines of this all-female play swirl around each other gaining momentum and keeping you fascinated until the very last.
World Enough and Time jumps between three eras: 2014, 1936 and 1646 as writer Sarah Sigal questions the changing power of women and whether we really can have it all these days.
While the themes and ideas might not be crashingly new, the workshopping that went into it with Fluff Productions, is evident and has produced a play that is both well-considered, laugh-out-loud funny and touching.
Katie Bonna (Lucy) and Jess Murphy (Celia). Photo credit Karla Gowlett
In modern times we meet high-powered, stressed-out, London mother Celia (Jess Murphy), who takes in friend Lucy (Katie Bonna) who has lost her teaching job due to a drinking problem but is by no means weak-willed. We watch as they both go through very different struggles to do with their careers, relationships with men and self-worth, confiding in and challenging each other as tensions build.
Refreshingly they constantly manage to side-step any of the clichés you think could be about to rear up, making the relationship really come to life.
It was great to see such interesting and varied roles for women on stage and Director Justin Audibert has teased out some wonderfully subtle performances.
A makeover scene was made hilarious by Sarah Kameela Impey's perfectly heel clicking turn as stylist Tamara and it was easy to identify with the judgemental attitude she had towards appearances.
The same actresses are back on stage for 1646's civil war era, with Lady Anne (Murphy) taking in 'mad Joan' (Bonna) and the parallels clear but never over-stated.
As the Roudheads march towards their West Country village the women's loyalties to king, country and each other are tested and Yvonne Riley gave was great as Meg, who makes us question the choice between our own wants and the greater good.
Rebecca Dunn (Pamela). Photo credit Karla Gowlett
The evening was worth it alone for the hilarious and memorable performance by Muswell Hill actress Rebecca Dunn as the 1936 upper class society darling Pamela With thick plummy accent and wonderfully arched eyebrows she recounts with perfect comic timing how she is transformed from a blinkered fashion journalist into a spy snooping into the life of Wallis Simpson and the German ambassador.
It actually turns out she is seemingly the only one of the characters who can have her cake and eat it as in the other two timelines Sigal left us with a cliffhanger and a bombshell, ensuring that your brain keeps ticking well after you have left the theatre.
Park Theatre, Clifton Terrace, Finsbury Park, until April 13
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