When Cuckoo starts the four female protagonists are seated around a suburban Merseyside dinner table. There is no dialogue, just a succession of pings and chirrups as their respective smartphones go off. It's as if they can no longer communicate with each other. Welcome to the modern world.

Cuckoo, by writer Michael Wynne, is both a very modern and very traditional piece of comedy drama. In the early scenes the sparky banter and low level bickering about boyfriends, working in Boots and the size of chip portions, could have come direct from a sitcom or a serial - in fact matriarch Doreen is played by Sue Jenkins, who soap fans might remember as Jackie Corkhill from Brookside. 

But things take a darker turn after the fish and chips dinner when granddaughter Megyn (Emma Harrison) suddenly decides to shut herself in Doreen's bedroom. Reality, coming at her non-stop via her phone, is all too much. Her mum Carmel (Michelle Butterly) and aunt Sarah (Jodie McNee) are caught in the middle. 

Megyn is traumatised not by Boots being in high street competition with Superdrug but by the high stakes threat of climate change and so much more. She feels powerless and in the face of her fears has retreated to the womb-like safety of the bedroom upstairs.

As the rest of the women attempt to deal with this in their own ways, back story emerges. At the start Doreen seems to be a lonely widow, but all is not necessarily what it seems. She now finally wants to live and be free just as her granddaughter is feeling that there is no future for anyone.

Cuckoo, directed by Vicky Featherstone, the Royal Court's artistic director who is stepping down this year, is a curious bird. Part bitingly contemporary, part kitchen sink. Enoyable yet scary. Each character has their own personal concerns and tribulations playing out against bigger concerns. Sarah, for example, has a new boyfriend and hopes that she is about to settle down. 

But life is never going to be a fairy tale as issues loom in the background. The conclusion is not exactly optimistic or positive, but then maybe that is maybe a stark reflection of how many people - particularly young people like Megyn, feel at the moment.

Good too, by the way, to see a talented, skilful, all female cast. Maybe men are the cause of so many problems. Who needs them?

Until Saturday 19 August 2023. Tickets here.

Pictured: Michelle Butterly, Sue Jenkins, Jodie McNee, Emma Harrison.

Picture by Manuel Harlan