I once again found myself invited to the Old Fire Station on George Street, to review a staged reading of a new play to come out of The Oxford Playwriting Course, run by director John Retallack. I never refuse such invites, having witnessed the excellent writing that comes out of this course several times before.

Written over a two-year period, The Barlow Tree is a new play by Caitlin Shannon, already a successful playwright, with plays previously staged both in New York and London, as well as both penning and directing an award-winning Amazon web series, Wimpole Street.

As mentioned, this is not my first rodeo when it comes to the fantastic new writing performed as part of the Oxford Platforms supplement to The Oxford Playwriting Course. Although advertised as a staged reading, with Retallack’s tenured directing skills, and remarkable actors, this is another in a long line of performances that really brings the quality of writing to life.

Starting in the Barlow family garden in the scenic Shropshire Hills, the play opens with sisters Jane and Hannah and Hannah’s daughter Gracie, planting a memorial tree for Laurie - mother and grandmother to the trio, respectively. With interstitial narration provided by the Playwriting Course co-founder Renata Allen, while the play is set over one present-day New Year’s weekend, we switch between several decades to different periods of the female Barlow family life, piecing together the stories of their lives, and the history of how they have all been shaped by the formidable farmhouse at the centre of it all.

With ghostly returns from matriarchs gone by, I found myself completely enthralled by this generational saga, not least due to the incredible acting across the entire cast – Fran Marshall (Jane Barlow) and Rebecca Pownall (slightly younger sister, Hannah) leading the way with a wholly believable and natural portrayal of sisters close in age, but very differently affected by their upbringing. Mimi Dobson’s performance as Hannah’s 15-year old daughter Gracie brought yet another more contemporary layer to the decisions and sacrifices made by her predecessors. Said predecessors were also performed with flawless aplomb by aforementioned Renata Allen as the sisters’ grandmother, Edith Barlow, and a tremendous turn by Daisy Ashford as Laurie across differing ages (forties, twenties and fifteen). Indeed, Marshall and Pownall also played their sibling characters across varying ages, and while it sounds complicated, it was easy to keep up with the transitions between eras with the combination of well observed writing and excellent acting (with a little help from subtle costume or hair style changes).

As with previous staged readings of new writing produced by the Oxford Playwriting Course, I came away from the theatre feeling as though I’d witnessed something really special – the script is very polished and Shannon’s use of dialogue is economic and efficient, with no need for lengthy exposition. If this is what can be put on with a few hours preparation (including read-through and dress rehearsal), I can’t imagine how fabulous a full-blown performance of The Barlow Tree would be. I do hope it is something I get to see one day.