So good it would have made Ibsen envious: Dixon and Daughters, at the Dorfman Theatre, reviewed

Deborah Bruce’s new play Dixon and Daughters is a family drama that opens on a note of sour mistrust. We’re in a working-class home in Yorkshire where a vituperative old crosspatch, Mary, has just returned from prison. Rather than accepting her daughters’ friendly welcome she treats them all with open hostility.

Her first malevolent act is to try to evict Julie, even though her boyfriend has subjected her to horrific and repeated violence. And Mary is highly suspicious of the absent Briana who has changed her name and is threatening to return home, by force if necessary. What was Briana’s crime? And why is Mary so hostile to Julie who clearly needs her love and support? The first hour feels like a forced visit to a snake-pit full of outraged females whose feuds are being tempered unsuccessfully by the warm and intelligent Bernie.