British playwright Harold Pinter was a master of quotidian dialogue laden with psychological tension in claustrophobic settings.

Making that subtlety sizzle requires a talented cast, which is certainly the case for this production of The Homecoming that, at first glance, seems fairly humble.

An Australian Shakespeare Company co-production, it’s a disturbing slow-burn reveal of a family’s dynamics with hints of their past and present. This, together with the production’s mid-century London working-class design, got me thinking notorious gangsters the Kray twins might drop by at any moment.

Premiering in London in 1965, The Homecoming won the Tony Award for Best Play two years later. It unfolds in the living room of an all-male North London family: retired butcher Max; his sons Joey, a semi-professional boxer, and Lenny, whose profession remains obscure for most of the play; and Max’s brother Sam, a never-married chauffeur.

Kate Kendall and Ben Geurens in The Homecoming. Photo © Ben Fon

Eldest son Teddy, a philosophy academic, arrives unannounced from America with his wife of six years. He’s never told his family about Ruth, or their three children. That’s...