Josie is seeing her mother Fay for the first time in a while – she’s never walked into a prison before and she’s been putting it off for fifteen years. Uncovering the memories they share is going to be more perilous than either of them can imagine.

Real-life mother and daughter Christine Mackie (Dr Gaddas in Coronation Street/Daphne Bryant in Downton Abbey) and Lois Mackie (Finding Emily/Coronation St/Elysium Theatre) play Fay and Josie in Rona Munro’s Award winning play presented by Best Girl Productions.

Prison dramas – a genre that brings with it a hotbed of emotional charge and potential for the extreme.

In many pieces, the action is between the inmates – it takes place on the wings – in the cells, the laundry room, the kitchens, dining hall, the yard. I’m leaning into my beloved Prisoner Cell Block H, Bad Girls, Orange is the New Black, Life…

We sometimes see the crime that got ‘em the time…

With IRON we potentially had to work a little harder to join the dots of what led to Fay (Christine Mackie) having been behind bars for the last 15 years, and the reasons behind why her daughter, Josie (Lois Mackie) , was here, cellophane-covered fruit basket in hand, unknowingly cold-calling in on her mum after an estrangement of 15 years.

In its most basic form, Fay murdering her husband, Josie’s dad, was the reason. But life is nuanced and never basic, and for the next 2 hours 50 (inc interval) we, along with main characters, had most (if not all) the question marks answered (albeit, kicking and literally screaming – oh, them, not us).

Real life mother and daughter, I wouldn’t like to say that the tricky and highly emotive dynamic between the two characters worked particularly well because of this or despite this. I would humbly suggest the latter. It’s one thing (a hugely impressive thing, at that) to step outside of yourself and effectively become somebody else, but to do that with an existing relationship and dynamic layered on top of this, incredible.

At the start we see two characters poles apart Two effective strangers. Accent, poise, outlooks, experiences, morals…but both with different vulnerabilities. Both lonely and prisoners in their own lives – Fay literally, Josie trapped by her own feelings of loss- that of her paternal grandma who stepped into the maternal role, of course both parents and an inability to recall her life up to and including the act that lead to their current situation.

And whilst there’s an obvious power imbalance at the start between the two, it’s Fay who holds all the cards as it is within her to help fill those gaps. And as she does, the chasm between them over visits begins to narrow. Each is the other’s common ground and we see Josie’s clipped accent dilute, her appearance soften along with her stiff and proper approach to life. Until that meeting in the middle is suddenly met with friction and an explosive moment that sends each back to their corners.

But what of its execution? Exemplary. Both lead actors gave me the buy-in I needed early on to suspend my disbelief and see them in 3D. I was invested. Not to pit mother against daughter here, but Christine Mackie as Fay was particularly captivating and it’s the privilege of the smaller theatre (theatre 2 at HOME) to provide access to the nuance of the performances- every twitch, subtle change of expression, contortion, eyebrow raise…a performance that goes far and beyond the scripted words.

I also want to applaud the writing and performances of the two prison guards, Sheila (Ellaney Hayden) and George (Jamie Smelt). Whilst bringing some of the light relief in their two-handers, the writing and acting also gave us heart and something of a back story as they walked a tightrope between the authoritarian role they were there to do, and the moments where lines are crossed in varied directions.

There is one elephant in the room – the length of the play and the small theatre setting. On a practical and comfort note, the two just didn’t (to use the vernacular that I’m probably not entitled to use as I remember the 90s), ‘vibe”.

I really enjoyed the performances, I really like theatre 2 and the intimate, cushioned but backless bench style seating of it all. I have attended many a show there and embraced the more relaxed set-up which works well with fringe, comedy, discussion panels…

In short (ironically), this was a long production that captivated me to the extent that my attention was retained, but unfortunately did threaten to lose me any second as I began to shuffle and shift position as we travelled towards the final act and epilogue.

But try not let this fact detract from what is a powerful piece of theatre, delivered beautifully and authentically.

IRON is at HOME Mcr until Saturday 19 September, before moving onto Hull Truck and The Dukes in Lancaster. For more details, times and tickets, visit HOME

Production images – Shay Rowan