Kate is a 37-year-old unmarried-by-choice writer of three books, each of which has the word "love" in the title. Triona is thirty-ish, prim and tight-lipped, an unhappy suburban wife burdened by her condition. Cat is twenty-ish, lively and playful, brought up by the nuns in their orphanage, inventing her parents and wondering who she will marry and how many children she will have.

When they meet in a field beside a standing stone near Limerick, for Kate it is 1999, for Triona it is 1964 and for Cat it is 1932. Yet Kate is Triona's daughter and Triona is Cat's daughter. Caught surrealistically out of time and at ages which are not customary for exchanges between mothers, daughters and grandmothers, yet at which women may communicate with one another, they swap experiences in their lives.

When the author, Hugh Leonard, gets one of them to state that life has to be lived forward, but can only be understood backward, the ironies of their three differing social commitments and three very different sets of attitudes become more obvious. Times change, and people change with them, but the changing times will not necessarily bring the generations closer together. One's perceived gain may well be another's loss or pain. Love may be binding, even if it is not necessarily forgiving, but it can be lived with a sense of humour.

Occasionally, Leonard's own sense of humour, particularly in snappy one-liners, is telling. Occasionally, it serves to emphasise the out-of-time contrivance of the play. Always, there is entertainment, as the three lives are compared and contrasted. Usually, there is empathy with the three women. Often, there are insights into the reality of social change in Irish society. Only rarely (but then rewardingly) do we get a depth of personal insight into the three separate but intertwined lives.

Patrick Mason's production is adorned by three lovely performances from Ingrid Craigie as Kate, Catherine Walsh as Triona and Karen Ardiff as Cat, each managing perfectly to retain her own persona at her own age in a place out of time, yet managing to convey in their own ways the relationships between mother, daughter and grandmother.

Joe Vanek's setting is not so successful in reflecting the mood - a kind of large room in which the field and standing stone are contained, with a view through a gap in the wall of Carrigogunnel, the rock and castle which is both mythical and real. It serves to bring us back constantly to the contrivance of the play's construction. Mick Hughes's lighting is just about perfect.

Mr Leonard has made a most welcome return to the Dublin stage.

At the Abbey until April 17th, prior to touring to Tallaght, Longford, Portlaoise, Cork, Limerick, Belfast and Sligo.

Booking on (01) 878 7222 and (01) 456 9569.