John Steinbeck's epic novel written in the 1930s graphically showed the downside to the American Dream at a time when thousands of people in the dust bowl state of Oklahoma, left destitute by the collapse of the economy and agriculture, headed for a new life in California's land of milk and honey.

Like many before them, the Joad family found only pain and hardship out West, derided as sponging immigrants, their poverty exploited by the wealthy landowners.

Adapted for the stage by Frank Galati, this is an unremittingly dark production, lacking much of the light and shade of Steinbeck's original.

However, it's saved from tedium by an outstanding central performance from Sorcha Cusak, the pragmatic mother trying desperately to hold her family together in face of a world which seems determined to tear them apart.

While some of the cast struggle to maintain the southern drawl, Rebecca Night as Rose of Sharon shows how it should be done. At first hopelessly naive and idealistic, she ages before the audience's eyes and easily carries the final painful denouement on her young shoulders. However, while The Grapes of Wrath won the Pulitzer Prize, a lack of pace and at times sluggish script prevents this from being a truly outstanding production. A difficult play for difficult times, perhaps, but like the scorched earth of the Californian desert it too often fails to show signs of life.

West Yorkshire Playhouse