For DoloresMick Lally Theatre, Galway★★★★☆Two women sit in a couples therapy session. They’re trying to raise a baby together, but they can’t seem to work out their personal issues, or to forgive each other for past hurts. Alcohol is an issue. So far, so normal.But this isn’t an ordinary couple. To begin with they’re not together and never were. They were once best friends. Then something dramatic and awful happened, involving death, imprisonment and accidental pregnancy. As a result they have come back together and are trying to raise the baby as “chosen family”.Alyson Cummins’s set is a symbolic interpretation of the premise. At first glance, the stage is a clinical monochrome therapy room: neat grey walls, two grey chairs, insipid and inoffensive. Beneath the stage surface lies the debris of lived experience: Singer sewing machines, pink roses, Buckfast bottles, shampoo, baby toys, hairbrushes and a disco ball.Premiering as part of Galway International Arts Festival, Eva O’Connor’s For Dolores is a brilliantly written, acerbic and emotionally astute portrait of female friendship in all its intensity. (The production makes excellent use of the ultimate anthem of girlhood, Dreams, by The Cranberries.) It captures the exhilarating, toxic closeness of young women finding themselves in one another, then asks what remains when life fractures that bond. The plot veers towards soap opera, piling revelation upon revelation, each more dramatic and improbable than the last, yet never loses credibility thanks to O’Connor’s sharp psychological insight and the remarkable chemistry between the play’s two leads.Catriona Faint is brilliant as Mo, all jagged wit, defensive intelligence and cleverly concealed vulnerability. Beneath her abrasive humour lies the person whose capacity for love and hurt runs very deep. Lara McDonnell gives Réaltín equal complexity. Beneath the basic straight-girl exterior is someone both more passionate and tougher than you might expect. She is less idealistic and ultimately more capable of managing pain and making expedient decisions.The script is frequently hilarious and always immensely gripping, but what makes it exceptional is O’Connor’s willingness to articulate emotional truths about womanhood that are rarely expressed on stage, or anywhere.She understands the strange psychology of half-love: throwing yourself into a relationship because you’re lost, hoping that performance will become feeling, that the relationship might stand in for purpose. She also captures the way that cruelty can so often stem from inferiority: the person throwing rocks often feels their target is untouchable, and is surprised to see the damage.Produced by Fishamble, and deftly directed by Jim Culleton, For Dolores is compelling, funny, bruising and brilliantly acted. It’s packed with huge twists, but it’s the tiny recognisable moments that really sting.For Dolores is at the Pavilion Theatre, Dún Laoghaire, Co Dublin, from Wednesday, July 22nd, until Sunday, July 26th; and the Traverse Theatre, in Edinburgh, as part of TravFest and the Culture Ireland Showcase, from Friday, August 7th, until Sunday, August 30th, with a preview on Thursday, August 6th. It is produced in association with Lime Tree/Belltable, Galway International Arts Festival and the Traverse Theatre