A bleak comedy by Alan Ayckbourn, which takes place on the birthdays of the four main characters.

On Pam’s birthday, she and her husband Neil visit Dennis and Vera to look at Vera’s car, which they are thinking of buying. Dennis, rearranging the mess in his garage, is reminded by his live-in mother, Marjorie, how much better his father was at DIY. Dennis ignores both her and his long-suffering wife, who yearns to be rescued from her dominating mother-in-law. On Dennis’s birthday, Marjorie berates Vera for not making him his favourite cake. On Marjorie’s birthday, Vera finally allows her fury free rein; by her own birthday, however, she is cowed and uncommunicative, huddled outside in the garden, while Marjorie happily rules the house and her son.