TWO women, two lives, one death. Adam Canavan's new play explores the sisterly feelings between Grace and Niamh, brought together again when one is diagnosed with cancer.

If the emotions are big and complicated, the staging isn't. Just a couple of seats, a table and music from the 1970s, when the sisters were growing up and found dancing a release from the traumas of home life.

The small, intimate Studio space is the perfect place for a play like this, putting the audience only at arm's length from the women's lives.

The piece is beautifully written, full of compassion and humour but capable of swift emotional U-turns as when the sisters recall their father's violent and abusive behaviour.

Dancing under the glitterball aside, Sonia Fraser's well-paced, absorbing production is content to let the words speak for themselves and not trick out the play with anything fancy.

If you looked at Amanda Daniels and Angela Clerkin, you'd never say they were sisters. Despite this lack of physical similarity, the pair find a bond and connection that makes you believe they are related.

Daniels invests the young sister Grace with a lively, impish quality that contrasts well with Clerkin's quieter, more serious Niamh. The latter is also marvellous to watch even when she's listening, not speaking.

It's a different matter on the dance floor where the pair come to life and escape the real world in this marvellous production.

* Runs until June 4. Tickets (01904) 623568.

Published: 16/05/2005