Husbands and Sons - Royal Exchange Theatre

DON'T get me wrong - I'm not an accents snob. I take great delight in the fact you no longer need cut glass English to present on the BBC. Long gone are the days when they all sounded like they all had plums in their mouths.

But, they were occasions while watching Husbands and Sons I felt in need of a translator as the old Nottingham dialect, the language spoken the community DH Lawrence grew up in, was far too broad for my 21st century ears.

That said it did give the production, a joint venture with the National Theatre, an added authenticity and I managed to conquer the linguistic hurdles and enjoy this engrossing if sometimes grim deeply human story. It's a story of blood, sweat, tears and passion as only Lawrence, for me the greatest English novelist, can write. You'll empathise with the women folk of the pit village, as they try to keep a home and their men out of the pub. Not that you can really begrudge them a pint, as mining was dirty, dangerous work.

Imagine an early soap opera and you have Husbands and Sons.  But unlike our soaps, this piece of theatre has much more emotional clout and the characters, decent hard working people struggling to make ends meet, are far more real.

Director Marianne Elliott and her design team re-create early 20th century pit village life so vividly the chances are you'll be overwhelmed with the urge to jump in the shower when you get home. The coal dust seems to get under your fingernails.

A strong cast deliver some fine performances, particularly Joe Armstrong and Louise Brearley as Luther and Minnie Gascgoine. Some of the scenes between them give off more heat than the fire in their kitchen. The same can also be same be said of Shameless star Anne-Marie Duff and Martin Marquez as Lizzie and Charles Holroyd. But will Lizzie make the leap and do a flit with the nice "sparky" from the mine?

* Until March 19. The box office is on 0161 833 9833. Star rating - ***