Billy the Girl review, Soho Theatre

Billy returns home after early release from prison, to find she's not welcome. Her mother, Ingrid, is about to plight her troth to a pony-tailed medium she met six weeks ago, and not-so-little sister Amber, is skipping choir practice to go shoplifting. Consigned to a caravan in the garden, Billy discovers she's sharing the space with her previous stepfather's ashes.

What follows is eighty minutes of very sharp and often funny drama in which the three women, forced together by grudging ties of love and expectation, negotiate a troubled past, an unhappy present and an uncertain future. Ingrid, permanently in thrall to a conveyor belt of dodgy men, has knowingly sidestepped responsibility to chase love. Billy, imprisoned for a fork stabbing, sees everybody else's failings except her own. Meanwhile, the saintly Amber is on the road to hell. Nobody ever admits fault. When every narrative is flawed, how does one find an approximation of the truth?

Katie Hims' Billy the Girl was created for Clean Break theatre company after she spent time working with prisoners at Holloway and Askham Grange. There is real authenticity in the piece and all three characters - played by Danusia Samal, Naomi Ackie and Christine Entwistle - successfully straddle the line between monstrous and loveable. The simple set boasts a full size caravan and there is a sense of constant movement with hardly any movement at all.

In conclusion: Entwistle as Ingrid, has the feel of Edina from Ab Fab and the character of a low grade Battersby from Coronation Street: she's utterly compelling.  The writing is raw without being crude and the characters are totally believable - the moments when family unity supersedes old grudges are lovely.

References
Soho Theatre, Tickets

Soho Theatre, 21 Dean Street, London W1D 3NE.  Run ends November 24.