Forfeit @ Oran Mor

At first glance, it could be any dysfunctional family - strong matriarch, bratty wee sister and weary older one bickering over the bill in a Wetherspoons. However in this instance, the squabbling trio are comprised of ex-cons: Vi,a bad-ass bar owner (Irene Mac Dougall), barmaid friend Megan (Natalie Wallace) and Shona (Emily Winter), with the latter two sharing bad blood due to turf wars.

Penned by Alan Wilkins in conjunction with Dundee Rep, his nib sharpened to a point with dialogue gleefully cruel and bitchy - a stiff poke in the eye of the sugar and spice brigade. Wallace is hilarious as electronically-tagged Megan, her every eye roll and attempted R 'n' B slouch just perfect-indeed, all three excel in a comedy drama which twists and turns at unexpected verbal junctions. 

Vi has a proposal for her two friends: asking smart but down-on -her-luck Shona to buy the bar and co-run it with Megan, thus creating a convenient loophole and assuaging her guilt after her sons attacked both Shona and her mother. The history between the women unfurls at a nice even pace, Vi first toying with the other two, then realising neither can be bought over as easily as she had planned. 

Prison  dramas can often be trite,but this is a taut,highly effective spin on the genre-there are simply no weak lines in it. A cunning morality tale with dirt under its chipped fingernails - Bad Girls,it ain't.