@ Traverse Theatre, Edinburgh, until Sat 18 Apr 2015 (part of A Play, A Pie and A Pint season)

A table. A pool of blood. A pot bubbling on the stove. Broth’s opening moments paint a picture of barbarism amongst the banal, tragedy alongside triviality, and thus set the tone for an occasionally jarring, but largely fulfilling watch.

This final instalment of the Traverse’s A Play, A Pie and A Pint season, written by Tim Primrose, mirrors its first (Leviathan, reviewed here) – three generations of women facing up to the unspoken difficulties of family life. Equally dark, but with more alleviating humour than its predecessor, the bête noire in this play is a monstrous father figure, Jimmy, whose unforgivable behaviour has pushed the women in his family to breaking point.

Ron Donachie is excellent as Jimmy – a big-bellied, big-voiced rolling drunkard who can flick from foul-mouthed vitriol to grandfatherly tenderness like a switch. But it’s the dynamic between father and family that really help the play to fire. Kay Gallie ably captures the mix of disinterest and detachment brought on by years of self-denial as his wife Mary. Sheena (Molly Innes) is skittish and conflicted, as any daughter with a monster father would be. And granddaughter Ally (Kirsty MacKay) has the youthful energy to try and command the situation, but not the life experience to truly handle it.

As a study in family dynamics then, an excellent one, with some natural, well-scripted earthy language to boot. The play can frustrate though. We’re not really let into the detail of Jimmy’s misdemeanours. Nor is the appearance of Jimmy’s mate Patch (Vincent Friell) particularly illuminating, more an excuse for levity. The black humour can mislead too. Waiting for a punchline or a sudden surprise, you realise that no, this is the serious bit.

But while a little filling out of the back story and ironing out of tone changes would have been welcome, the general tenor and delivery hang together well. This sinister Andy McNamee-directed piece sends this A Play, A Pie and A Pint season out on a creatively, if not emotionally, positive note.