STEPHEN Clark wrote the lyrics for the re-launched version of Martin Guerre, winning an Olivier Award.

His play Stripped ran in Chicago last May; he contributed the book and lyrics to Forbidden City, the musical that opened Singapore's Esplanade Theatre last year, and he is now conjuring up the lyrics for Zorro, in preparation for its West End opening in next spring.

He also has written the best new play to be premiered in this region this year, commissioned by the Stephen Joseph Theatre after literary manger Laura Harvey was impressed by an earlier Clark work, Takeaway. What a shameful waste so few people attended last night: the lure of the council election results can't have been that strong, surely.

Never mind, there is time aplenty to see Making Waves, a bumpy ride of a play that lives up to its title, steered expertly by director Daniel Slater on Francis O'Connor's sky-and-sea set.

Inspired by his move to the Brighton coast, and by a tip that family dramas were always well received at Alan Ayckbourn's theatre, Clark has written a modern variation on the tale of the prodigal son: a literary device previously used by the likes of Arthur Miller.

The prodigal son here is eldest son Sam (James Weaver), who quit the fictional north eastern seaside town Teesmouth for life in the American fast lane in New York venture capitalism, fake accent and all. He needed to free himself from the claustrophobic grasp of his father, who believes both his sons should follow him in serving on the lifeboat. Just as his own father did, perishing at sea.

Sam's father, Mike (Geoff Leesley), is the lifeboat coxswain, a local hero in the eyes of his community but the intransigent cause of pain to his family. Wife Ruth (Charlie Hardwick, outstanding) plans for a new start together in Cornwall, suffering all the while in his need to save lives but not rescue his own relationship.

Daughter Jo (professional debutante Alison Mac) wants to travel, preferably to Thailand; younger son Luke (Neil Grainger) has joined his father on the boat, but that sense of duty stifles both his nascent career as a joiner and his relationship with girlfriend Helen (Niky Wardley).

Sam's return after five years away, for his mother's birthday, is the catalyst for change in Clark's heart-grabbing, brittle study of destiny, sacrifice, personal ambition and heroic status.

He peppers his domestic drama with shards of humour and pathos too, as emotions pull this way and that, just as they do in a Miller play.

Making waves indeed.

Box office: 01723 370541

Updated: 11:23 Friday, May 02, 2003