Tamsin Greig is sensational in a Cranford where comedy and pain are in perfect balance

Orange Tree theatre, LondonThis streamlined adaptation of Elizabeth Gaskell’s novel gets right to the heart of her characters, who face heartbreak and loss but gain from the strength of female friendshipThere’s more than one worry for any new dramatisation of Elizabeth Gaskell’s novel to contend with. There is the risk of this story, set among the unmarried women and widows…