When I say 'strong willed', what I really mean is 'absolute nightmare', because that is exactly what Peggy Morrow is - she's the kind of woman who makes Joan Crawford look like Mommy of the Year. Peggy likes a drink, and not much else. Her non-stop nagging and moaning have worn her husband into the ground and are sending young Kyle the same way.

Smilin' Through is set in the Belfast of 1998, the Troubles apparently over and a new-found peace reigning across the land - everywhere, that is, apart from Casa Morrow.

Kyle is gay and in love with the rather hunky Donal (and I can't say I blame him - actor Russell Simpson is a real dish), a fact that he is understandably reticent about sharing with Mummy dearest, given her strong presbyterian principles and her fondness for expressing them in a pretty forthright way. But love will out, as ever, and when Peggy discovers the truth about her beloved son's sexual preferences all hell most definitely breaks loose.

Before you know it Kyle is locked in his room, on hunger strike and refusing to leave until his mother accepts him for what he is. Then things turn surreal, as a rather surprising nocturnal visitor drops in to see Peggy and offers to sort out her complicated domestic situation...

From the moment that Peggy Morrow (aka actress Gillian Hanna) stepped on to the Drill Hall stage I knew that I was going to love this show. Her portrayal of Peggy is both funny and moving and her performance is undoubtedly one of the main reasons for the success of this show.

Let's not forget the rest of the cast though, because the whole damn lot of them are impressive, in particular Declan Harvey as the determined Kyle and Billy Boyle as hen pecked husband Willy. Far too many fringe plays are let down by patchy acting, and it only takes one off-note performance to spoil a show, but the cast of Smilin' Through are talented to a man (and woman).

The play is a good one too, funny where it should be, and sad without ever becoming schmaltzy. Peggy's drunken antics are hilarious and her rambling tirades truly awe-inspiring, but underneath her steely exterior lies a big softie trying to get out and all it takes is the ghost of a singing Mountie to make her realise it.

Dream sequences are not the easiest thing to get right on stage, but the scenes involving Nelson Eddie and Jeanette McDonald (no, I had never heard of them either, but just imagine a 1930s version of Kylie and Jason and you're almost there) seem to work.

It's pretty obvious how things are going to work out, because of course there has to be a happy ending, but despite this predictability I relished every minute as the show rattled towards its dramatic conclusion.

Smilin' Through is a brave play, tackling the rather overdone theatrical concept of the 'coming out' tale in a new and interesting way. The obvious comparisons between the clashes in the Morrow household and the bigger events in Northern Ireland as a whole are subtly done, so that what is in effect a political piece never comes across as hectoring or preachy.

As you can probably tell by now, I really liked Smilin' Through. I could ramble on about it for ever (I've already spent the last couple of days badgering my friends into booking tickets), so let me just wind this up now by urging you to get yourself down to the Drill Hall before the 25 November and check it out for yourself - I bet you'll be glad you did.

Smilin' Through, by Billy Cowan
Drill Hall 1 16 Chenies Street
London, WC1E 7EX
020 7307 5060

7-10,14-25 November 2007

Find out all about Gay Britain buy getting Gay History of Britain: Love and Sex Between Men Since the Middle Ages. Buy it online and save yourself some money to put towards Queer London: Perils and Pleasures in the Sexual Metropolis, 1918-1957.