Having impressed with their debut production, DC Jackson's My Romantic History, last year, Liminal Events are back this week with their second, And Fade to Black, written and directed by Liminal founder, Mia Gordon.

Former variety artiste Gladys lies mute in her bed as she faces the dying of the light, well aware that time is short, but acutely attuned to everything going on around her. "Hearing is the last faculty to go," observes Trevor (Fraser Clark), the substitute nurse brought in when Gladys's two regular carers are unavailable.

Death offers plenty of comic possibilities and is a perfect plot device to bring a dysfunctional family together to tell a dramatic story of love and loss, misunderstandings and missed opportunities, and Mia Gordon has created an engagingly credible piece of work full of laughter, pathos and insight.

Through a series of flashbacks we witness Gladys and Frankie's - The Persian Prestidigitator - courtship and the gradual erosion of passion as three children arrive, and, as the siblings come together again, the wounds that have driven them apart are revealed.

A strong central performance from Naomi Dale-Cook as Gladys is at the core of And Fade to Black, even though she has scarcely any interaction with cast members - the real Gladys lies silent in her death bed, while her out-of-body self observes the present, urges action on her children and recalls the past. So completely do we buy into this device that it's only in deconstructing it that the challenge for the whole cast and director becomes apparent.

Older daughter Chrissie (Sophie Armstrong) is brittle with grief, son Tom (Robert Moore) is hiding from the world, the bank and himself, while younger sister Mandy (Jordan-Alicia Todd), 'the one that got away' from the seaside town where they live, has strayed from the path she was on and has news of her own. Together, the three actors created sibling relationships that were impressively convincing, with Armstrong genuinely moving when the brittle mask slips to reveal what lay behind it.

Despite the strength of the ensemble acting, which also includes Richard Monk as Derek, the next-door neighbour whose cat has disappeared, when Gladys dies (and that's probably not too much of a spoiler) and Naomi Dale-Cook leaves the stage with her, she leaves a big void - her comic timing is spot-on and though she's a long way the right side of Gladys's 66, she just is Gladys, inhabiting her skin and making her live (even as she's dying!).

Thought-provoking and funny, set in strike-ridden 1970s England to remind us that the more things change, the more they stay the same, And Fade to Black also serves as a warning to bury the family hatchet while you can.

And Fade to Black runs at The Courtyard until Saturday, February 22. To book, call the box office on 01432 340555 or visit courtyard.org.uk