A darkly wicked portrait of family life.

Best bit: John Simm's demonic entrance, complete with malevolent grin.

Any boring bits: The pace of this short play (50 minutes a half) doesn't really have time for boring bits.

Who would like it: Those looking for a reactionary night at the theatre.

Who wouldn't like it: Someone in the market for a feel-good romp.

Verdict: Four out of five

The erudite Jamie Lloyd's resurrection of Harold Pinter's 'finest' play fills the Trafalgar Studios with a thick malaise of malice and sexual tension, making you utterly uncomfortable, but unable to look away.

The Homecoming, which is celebrating its 50th anniversary, is the 1960s set dark comedy of family dysfunction. It's delivered with skill by its ensemble cast, led by Ron Cook as Max, the nostalgic patriarch. He watches over his strange, motherless family full of fantasists with something between love and hate, not adverse to violently acting out as if to reassert his dominance against his sons, the psychotically menacing Lenny (Simm), simple boxer Joe (John Macmillan) and the prodigal Teddy (Gary Kemp), whose Homecoming sets the play's action into motion.

Turning his back on the seedy streets of North London, Teddy has made his fortune in America as a philosophy professor, a far cry from the family butchers and chauffeurs he left behind. Adding to his surprise visit is his wife, Ruth (Gemma Chan). Young and beautiful, Ruth is a catalytic presence. Having lived without a mother for so long, the men have not developed any feelings for women beyond seeing them as 'sluts', 'bitches', objects to be used and shared. When confronted with an actual female in their house, they bray and peacock, and in the case of Lenny, attempt to manipulate, but this is a modern woman, and it is not long before her quiet authority has them wrapped around her little finger.

Each of the household, including Ruth seems to have their own private manias, here illustrated with painfully jarring asides, with the exception of Sam, the brother of Max, who seems to be the only one with a moral compass. Keith Allen is affable as this wretched man, however as with everyone else, you're hoping things are alright outside of the house. Permitted with a sparse set designed by Soutra Gilmour there is a touch of Miss Havisham here, but perhaps that's because the piece hasn't aged gracefully, the jokes have become less acceptable, and whilst the central themes might have seemed shocking to our forbears, it's hardly more shocking than your average GSCE piece. But within the theatre, with these actors, it's a hard slap in the face, played to perfection, hurdling Pinter's idiosyncratic dialogue with ease.

Altogether, it's a violently visceral piece of theatre, hanging on the pivotal actions of Ruth, whose ambiguous motivations are never clarified, leaving the audience with a sense of horror that even The Woman in Black couldn't foster.

Honourable mention to: Gary Kemp as the fastidious Teddy, torn between uncomfortable resentment of his bully-boy brothers and love for his wife. His subtle transformation from affable husband to unconcerned bystander, desperate to return to normality in America, is wonderful to watch.

The Homecoming runs until February 13th, 2016

Reviewed by @ThisisKittyMac on November 19th, 2015

View our show pages for more information about The Homecoming, Trafalgar Studios 1.