Laden with themes of identity and gender roles, Poppy and George is set in the aftermath of World War One and follows Poppy Wright (Nadia Clifford) - a northerner who moves down to the East End to find her place in a recently very shaken society. She meets three men, Smith (Jacob Krichefski) - a tailor whom she works with, Tommy (Mark Rice-Oxley) - a former musical artiste trying to get back into the industry after returning from the trenches and George Samson (Rebecca Oldfield) - a chauffeur who she falls in love with.

The story seems simple enough - a standard romantic drama by playwright Diane Samuels. However, with little character development as the play unfolded it was hard to relate to the characters, making them all seem slightly unreal, which didn't help to forge an audience/character relationship.

This could have been improved if the narrative structure had been clearer. The plot twist (which will give away a vital part of the show) at the end of act one made audiences anticipate the following act. What was to happen next? How will Poppy come to terms with the sudden shock twist?

But by the middle of act two it became apparent that the narrative didn’t lead to a climatic ending and the anticipation felt before - which clearly impacted the audience as you could hear them speculating during the interval - was not upheld and it left us with a disappointed feeling at the end.

The character of Smith needed to have given him more of a purpose. Quite frankly, the play as it is would easily have worked without him. Particularly at the end, there was no lead up to why he was leaving.

Tommy, probably one of the best characters in the play who provided great comic relief - he was a fragile character but still managed to maintain the humour and Mark's performance was outstanding, especially as he was the only one singing and playing a number of instruments.

The performance and the quality of the acting and production as a whole was great, all four actors did incredibly well with what they had to work with. The set design was inventive, the stage was raised and slanted, which looked pretty effective. All the action took place in one room which was tricky to effect but they made it work.

Without giving away the plot, the play raised issues that would have been considered taboo at the time in which it was set and neither were these satisfactorily addressed at its denouement.

Jyoti Rambhai