Review: You wait ages for a great role for a woman.. in Backstroke, two come at once

It is the job of theatre to just occasionally put up a mirror to real life and that Anna Mackmin achieves rather wonderfully in Backstroke.

The play is essentially a two-hander between Celia Imrie and Tamsin Greig as a mother and daughter trying to navigate a way through dementia and advanced old age. Mackmin also directs a piece that is a well-constructed, very human, and, at once, funny and tragic account of two women who take turns at being the other’s carer.

Imrie in a role that could hardly be any less glamorous – she is hooked up to a drip in a hospital bed for much of the play – is on staggeringly good form, at once pathetic and terrifying in her last moments.

Greig delivers a more nuanced performance – cold and heartless at the start but more understandable towards the end – and the chemistry between the two is a joy to behold. There are precious few great roles available for women on the stage, but these two fine actresses, clearly valuing what they have, make the most of them and they make this an unforgettable night at the theatre.

Backstroke plays at the Donmar Theatre in London until April 12.