★★★★

At this time of remembrance, D. H Lawrence's classic examination of living with the physical and emotional scars of war is perfectly poignant.

There are many levels to this famous book, which unpeels the layers between social class and emotion. This adaptation plays out these ideas with resounding clarity. The simple set gives a flavour of the 1920s and serves to enhance the performances.

The action flits between a manor house and the woods, and sound is used as a vehicle for these narrative jumps; birdsong, also denoting the seasons; a woodpecker drumming in spring, the chafing of a pheasant, a summer cuckoo. It is wonderfully transporting and reminds you of the difference between television and theatre (where senses and imagination are a requisite).

The cast is strong throughout, with convincing portrayals of passion and anguish by the leads. Of course, you can't ignore the sexual aspect of this play, the book being banned for 30 years for "indecency". There is nothing vulgar about the nudity here, though – in fact it is one of director Phillip Breen's primary ideas to show the naked body in a way that is "vulnerable, imperfect, beautiful, absurd".

Sex is not overbearing in this thoughtful adaptation, whose subtleties uncover the many relevant themes of an often misjudged book – the working title of which was Tenderness.