A Moss Side mixed-race trilogy.

Growing up as a mixed-race teenager in Moss Side in the seventies was quite an experience for Linda Brogan and that experience became the inspiration for three plays, Basil And Beattie, What's In The Cat and The Very Thought Of You.

The first in the trilogy Basil And Beatie has already shown to great acclaim at Manchester's Royal Exchange Theatre. Set in Moss Side it gave us a glimpse into the lives of Basil and Beattie 40 years into their tempestuous mixed-race relationship. A couple who can't live apart yet are destructive when they are together.

What's In The Cat is also set in Moss Side but this time the year is 1974 and follows fifteen year-old Lauren as she returns home pregnant for Christmas dinner. It's her first visit since being thrown out by her parents. Having found somewhere with a creche, Lauren wants to sit her exams.

But Lauren's parents Margaret and Bogey have their own personal battle to deal with, and this Christmas looks like a climactic end to their 18-year relationship, as Bogey empties the wardrobe and prepares to move on and out. A lifetime wasted; he only stayed for the kids and Lauren’s already broken his heart by getting ‘caught’.

This unflinching, dark portrayal of a volatile home life shows the influential power of family and how history often repeats itself. Pregnant Lauren has taken after her mum in more ways than one, but they do say that ‘what’s in the cat is surely in the kitten’.

A semi-autobiographical work, What's In The Cat explores Linda's often volatile upbringing in what was known to be one of Manchester's most deprived areas. Linda says writing about her childhood has helped her to feel less ashamed about being her and also to let go of a lot of anger and hurt. 'Sometimes it’s a bit painful,' says Linda. 'Certain lines are painful.'

The part of Lauren is played by Linda's daughter Rachel, already an accomplished actress who Linda assures us wouldn't have got the part if she wasn't. When asked what it feels like watching her daughter Rachel playing her as a child, Linda says 'proud'. Because my dad came from the hills in Jamaica – a proper country guy. It makes me really proud that my dad came here as an immigrant, my mum came from Ireland as an immigrant, and in one generation they made a playwright, and next they made an actress. So I feel historically wonderful!

Although the problems of growing up the daughter of a Jamaican Father and Irish mother in Moss Side were the reason Linda wrote the three plays, she now realises that her family were not as unique as she thought. 'I’ve come to realise how loads of families are like my family to differing degrees. So what I thought was a problem wasn’t really a problem. I was really surprised by the number of people – Asian, English, apparently posh – who said: God, my mum and dad were like that!'

Linda is currently working on the final play in the trilogy The Very Thought Of You, which tells the story of the seven days before her parents got together and was inspired by Bogey’s phrase that it took him seven days to get Margaret out from her husband’s table and lie down in his bed.

What's In The Cat is currently showing at The Contact Theatre, Manchester until December 3 and at the Royal Court, Sloane Square, London SW1 between Wednesday 7 & Thursday 22 December.

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