"Alys Always" by Harriet Lane, adapted by Lucinda Coxon.

Nottingham Lace Market Theatre.

Frances Thorpe works on the literary pages of a Sunday newspaper. She's quiet and capable and nobody really takes much notice of her, but is in need of most of the office staff as a dogsbody: the sort of person who is always on the outside, looking in.

One evening, driving back to London, she comes across an overturned car on the side of the road; a car that had only just pulled out in front of her on the icy road. She waits with the injured driver, Alys Kyte, until the ambulance arrives. Later, when Alys's family, who are quite well known in literary circles, gets in touch, Frances finds herself ushered for the first time into the world on the other side of the window. And she begins to wonder: what will it take to belong on this side of the fence?

Charlotte Hukin  plays PC Tina Nagra, a Guest at Alys' memorial, as well as a Waitress. I know that Charlotte has an ear for accents, and while two of these roles are silent, it was nice to hear another accent in Charlotte's accent armoury for the Police Officer who attended the accident, and also followed up on the incident.

Melanie Hamilton plays Alys Kyte - well we hear Alys voice as she lies dying in the car wreck - and also Chalotte Black on stage. Charlotte is a close family friend of the Kyte’s and Laurence’s agent. One of those warm and caring characters.

Jane Pyke is Mrs Thorpe, Frances's mother, who pops up on a couple of occasions when Frances visits the family home. Jane portrays the conventional "mother" character well, making us believe that this character is in her sixties with gentle physicality and image.

Bernard Whelan plays Mr Thorpe, Frances's father and a good match for the mother figure. Mr Thorpe is a kindly and conservative character.

Clare Moss takes the  main role as Frances Thorpe. This is such a wonderful character because there's such an arc in Frances's character throughout the play. Frances also becomes the narrator. You can tell by watching the way that Clare addresses the audience with her looks and the way that certain parts of the script are delivered what Frances's intentions are when she sees chinks in the Kyte armour, or is that amour? You feel Frances's strength in character grow as she sees greener grass, and knows how to get to that grass. Her social climbing also means getting respect from her boss, which also means that her career is on an upturn!

Emma Rayner plays Audrey Cullum, one of those brash journalists, which goes to show what a talented actor Emma is as the role is in complete contrast to how Emma is away from the stage!

Michelle Smith plays Mary Pym. and what a brilliant character this is. Pym is the Book Editor on the paper and is also Frances's boss. She gives all of those jobs that no one else wants to do, like feeding parking meters, going on drinks runs, arranging for things to be dispatched here, there and everywhere. You know the sort; loud, forthright, formidable and completely caustic. Michelle is wonderful in this role, and then comes that turning point when she realises that her office dogsbody may have connections that could bump Pym up the newspaper's professional ladder. But karma is something else isn't it?

Charlie Harris plays Oliver Culpepper, the Deputy Books Editor and another wonderful character who works on the newspaper. Culpepper is that character that can be found in most offices; the one that you can't stand. Loud, extrovert, lazy, displays an oily charm and I expect is a dream character role to play. A new face to me (I think) and a very welcome addition to local stages if this standard of character role playing is what we can expect from Charlie.

Wagner Rulli is Sid, another office work colleague who seems to have a bit of a thing for Frances; an attraction that is not reciprocated by Frances. Yet another new face - this production has plenty of newbies on show - who I hope will be seen in other productions by the Lace Market, and maybe other local groups.

Evangelia Angelinou, like Charlotte has three roles to play in "Alys Always", a Receptionist, a Guest and a Waitress.

Millie Rushworth, who is another new face at the Lace Market theatre, plays Polly Kyte, Alys and Laurence's daughter. What a role to play, and I very much doubt that this is Millie's first rodeo on stage. Polly is a drama student, insecure, fragile, shallow and likes a drink. She attaches herself to Frances and becomes the main inroad for Frances to utilise her entry into this renowned family. There's a lot of anger attached to this character which Millie has no issues with projecting that insecure anger.

Ollie Ennis plays Teddy Kyte, brother to Polly who also seems to have anger issues, especially with Frances being around so much. He's really suspicious of the reason for Frances being around and, after doing some digging around, finds out that Frances may have an ulterior motive for her inclusion into the Kyte family circle. Ollie does menacing really well and you can envisage leading man roles somewhere in the future, especially if there's an element of sly, bad guy character up for grabs.

Gurmej Virk is Laurence Kyte, famous novelist who has now lost his wife in the car accident. he is rich and owns several properties, but from the first scene we discover that, from Alys' comments about Christmas, things at home were not so rosy. Why could that be? Gurmej is one of the recognisable faces in this cast, having seen him last year in the wonderful "Once On This Bridge", so straight away I knew the quality of his character acting, which did not disappoint. At first sight, Laurence puts on a good show of his grief, but there's a scene in this play where you suddenly have doubts on Kyte's character!

Director Helen Sharp has another success on her hands with this production and cast. What I really enjoyed was that, via Millie and Ollie, they had the space and time to show the way that being the children of a well known figure, Polly and Teddy became instantly flawed. Little hints like the items that Frances found in Teddy's bedroom, while she was having a noisy round, and the clinginess and addiction to alcohol for Polly gave us incites on the Kyte kids. The pace was well observed as well to give the audience time to take in all the characters' foibles. There are two sections of intimacy that are not physically seen on stage but are intimated at, and you get those scenes without anything being spelt out to you.

Set Designer Guy Evans has created a very stylish set with eighteen (or there may have been sixteen) large sets of silver blinds which creates reflective flats of light but also brings a stylish cleanliness to the set. Props, in the way of chairs that can be simply covered by blankets, automatically become settees and then back to office chairs.

Lighting Designer Allan Green uses the reflective silver blinds to create colour on stage, bringing warmth to the stage and set, and when not using the silver blinds, you get that feeling of sterility of the office environment. Clever use of blue and red lighting for the arrival of the ambulance, plus various scenes when the set needs to be flooded with colour.

Sound Designer Simon Carter gives a masterclass in effects and soundbites. Everything from ambulance sirens, recorded announcements, the voice of Alys from the car, which needed specific timing to respond to Frances's call and respond scene, the Christmas party scene and several other scenes that require effects and sound. And the use of music from Teddy Swims brings the play right up to date.

Projection Designer Matthew Allcock also uses the blinds to screen the scene settings, which move the various scenes from one section of the play to the next. Images of flower gardens, bookcases, rain-soaked windows all place you at the required area of the story in a stylish and modern method of transporting an audience without ever leaving your seat.

I had never heard of this play before but what a stylish, and at times quite unsettling piece of theatre. It's also a warning to appreciate the people that you work with, because you never know what the future may hold. You may be sat next to a self-assured and cunning sociopath and not realise until it's too late!

"Alys Always" is at the Nottingham Lace Market theatre until Saturday 22 February.