Consent

It sold out at the National theatre in 2017 in a triumph of a glittering début. The play took Nina Raine eight years to write. She spent a lot of time watching real rape cases as part of her research. The result is superbly gritty, not suitable for under 16s thanks to the references to - and scenes of - sexual violence. Now it's back, this time at the Harold Pinter theatre, thanks to a strong ongoing demand for tickets. No wonder. This play is seriously good.

Consent cleverly blends courtroom drama with domestic challenges in what the Daily Telegraph calls a “tense, entertaining modern-day tragi-comedy.” The plot? When friends take opposing briefs in a nasty legal case, and every version of the truth is closely questioned, their lives soon begin to unravel. The key witness is a woman whose life feels a universe away from theirs. The play questions the gap between justice and the law in Britain, and the resulting moral and intellectual debate is good and hot. It's tense and fast-paced, exploring modern day preoccupations like infidelity, child custody, post-natal depression and accusations of rape. Heavy... but in a good way!