The increasing popularity of the theatrical monologue – Dennis Kelly’s Girls & Boys is the fifth in London so far this year – results from the combination of a low and a high motivation. Playhouse accountants like having to pay only one actor, while writers and actors relish the challenge of having to engage an audience with a single character.

With Girls & Boys, the creative side of the gamble pays off through an enthralling and emotionally exhausting performance by Carey Mulligan.