‘I wasn’t throwing up. I was dying. I was very ill … And do you know what? In the middle of all that … malaise, I remember thinking This is what it’s like to be married. But I’d do it again’

An elderly couple sit in a dark room in their house, doing the crossword, taking their tablets and knitting, all the while raking over a traumatic past that has all but destroyed them.

Conservatory is a compelling play about loss and family which shows that happiness is not a necessary condition of togetherness. It premiered at the Abbey Theatre, Dublin, in March 2014.