Synopsis

A cramped, working-class home in Cardiff becomes a pressure cooker of family tensions and unspoken desires.

Mrs Shannon, a middle-aged woman trapped in a cycle of poverty and familial obligation, struggles to maintain her sanity while caring for her elderly mother and navigating the complex relationships with her brother Frankie and daughter Maria. As she grapples with mounting debts, unwanted visitors, and her own deteriorating mental state, Mrs Shannon’s grip on reality begins to slip, revealing the profound impact of generational trauma and societal neglect.

Gill crafts a haunting portrait of working-class Welsh life, exploring themes of family duty, mental illness, and the suffocating nature of poverty. Through a series of increasingly claustrophobic scenes, the play delves into the psychological toll of caring for ageing parents and how financial hardship can erode familial bonds. As Mrs Shannon’s behaviour becomes more erratic and her interactions with her family more fraught, Gill poses a disturbing question: In a society that offers little support or escape for its most vulnerable members, is madness a form of rebellion or the only sane response to an insane world?