There is something fundamentally ambivalent about Natasha Langridge’s play. On its uppermost narrative level, the idea of a love story between members of two opposing groups has been a classic since ancient times. However, the Northern Irishman in me sees something hackneyed in “love across the barricades” plays... especially when a physical barrier divides the stage for much of the 80 minutes of Lisa Goldman’s production.

Commanding: Anna Carteret

Pearl is a Romany girl living on a (legal) site in east London about to be cleared for the Olympic swimming pool; Joe is a “gorger” (house-dweller) who falls for both her and the culture. As he wants in, she wants out – out, at least, of her more or less arranged marriage. Eventually, they run away together, but with no clear idea of where to go or how they will live.