As LV’s mother, Mari, Coronation Street star Beverley Callard excels in the moments when she’s required to exude brassy sexuality laced with pith and vinegar, but in the quieter moments of exposed vulnerability when she’s required to face the ruins of her life, the pace stumbles. Simon Thorp is great as Ray Say, giving us Nick Cave by way of Boycie from Only Fools and Horses, but similarly, we can never be sure if he is selfish or simply self-absorbed.

In a play that’s all about people hiding under masks, though, it’s interesting to note the most honest and truthful performance exists in Duggie Brown’s turn as Mr Boo, who, as a character, always seems ‘on’: wheeling, dealing, and engineering an audience in his grotty nightclub, his sparkly jacket fitting him like a second skin. It’s no doubt relevant that Duggie Brown served his time in many working men’s clubs in the seventies. It gives the scenes where he directly addresses the audience a realism that isn’t always apparent elsewhere.

Having such broad characters populate the piece goes some way to disguising the fact that Little Voice is a somewhat little play – the climax of the play isn’t where you’d expect, meaning that another two smaller climaxes need to be contrived, neither of them as emotionally engaging as LV’s star turn. There’s a darker plot here – in quick succession, two characters wheel on Mari and tell her in no uncertain terms how destructive she has been, but we’re not convinced that anyone has learned a lesson by the time the final note is sung.

Performed on Monday 4 March 2013 at Theatre Royal in Brighton.

To buy tickets go to atgtickets.com/brighton or call the box office on 0844 871 7650 (booking fee applies). Ticket prices £10- £28.