THE SET for this production The Rise And Fall Of Little Voice is a bold statement of intent by designer Colin Richmond.

A scaled-down two-up, two-down terrace house, it revolves to reveal mismatched furniture and has an epic quality unusual in a kitchen-sink drama. In doing so, it elevates the working-class characters in Jim Cartwright’s comedy and imbues a degree of significance to their suffering.

Set in the early 1990s — the sense of the period is conveyed through a jumble of news reports, commercials and music — the play, directed by James Brining, still has relevance at a time when the working class is being vilified.

Alhough the characters may be largely unlikeable, the brilliance of Cartwright’s script is that the audience comes to empathise with them as their lack of social opportunities is revealed.

The cast must also take credit for this level of identification, with Vicky Entwistle eminently believable as the brassy, sharp-talking Mari and it’s a genuine surprise when Nancy Sullivan’s socially awkward LV (“Little Voice”) first opens her mouth to sing.

If Chris Gascoyne as spiv promoter Ray Say is sometimes the weak link, by the time he vents his frustrations at Mari the harshness of his language induces a collective intake of breath from the audience.

This shifting of sympathies and power bases is constantly foreshadowed by the use of lighting, with the flickering electricity in Mari’s house contrasted with the Blackpool illuminations being recreated in the shed of LV’s prospective boyfriend Billy (Tendayi Jembere).

The grand reveal of his handiwork fails to impress but there’s nonetheless a sense of uplift in the play’s introverted underdogs finally getting a chance to shine.

Runs until July 4, box office: wyp.org.uk

Review by Susan Darlington