REVIEWS : Great boas of today and other beasts

The Yiddish Trojan Women Cockpit, London NW8

Let's get several things straight to begin with: Carole Braverman's new play is not in Yiddish, it's not a version of The Trojan Women and it's not a tragedy. It's a comedy set in Brooklyn, New York, in the early 1980s. Inspired by her childhood experience of a Yiddish version of the classics, Braverman has offered her own response to Euripides' great play.

Her four female characters bear a faint resemblance to the daughters of Troy, but the spirit of the play is more significant. Braverman explores survival and the techniques different people adopt to deal with life, and she celebrates the resilience of four strong women. But she also examines the importance of memory, explores the limited control we have over fate and discusses which is the better path to take - to turn away from the darkness in life, or to confront it. She tackles tragic themes in a comic voice, which makes for a fascinating piece of theatre.

The play has flaws - the differences between the three women are somewhat trite, and sometimes you feel the gags fall over one another as Braverman tries too hard to win the audience's affection. But it is a rich, warm comedy with a serious centre. It has a compelling, cathartic thrust, and the touching performances that Hettie MacDonald draws from her strong cast force you to drop all reservations and enter into the lives of the characters and the heart of the story.