IAN Salmon was in the Epstein Theatre watching his play Those two weeks after hot-footing it from rehearsals at the Royal Court where his next work – a musical - promises a combination of '60s music and real-life wrapped together.

Those two weeks is a drama that has played to positive reviews at various venues in the past. He says it his most personal play and it means a lot to him and those who know him.

He writes what he knows about – a golden rule for any playwright.

This is the Millers tale – the lives of a Liverpool family in the fortnight leading up to April 15, 1989.

We get to know them all over two hours with an interval - all the action, so to speak, taking place in a living room.

Sofa ... so good.

But, maybe, a straight-through 90-minute production would flow better.

It could certainly be cut without affecting the plot.

It is not a play about Hillsborough. And yet - it is a play about Hillsborough.

I discovered in my time as a newspaper feature writer that there were two Hillsboroughs; the tragedy and the aftermath.

Here we listen in on everyday lives: flies-on-the-suburban walls.

Relationships, dreams and fears.

Football talk and reflections of six ordinary people accompanied by incidental music from 1989 are the only special effects we are given by director Mike Dickinson.

It is an ensemble piece so it would be unfair to highlight any one of the actors or actresses: Samantha Alton (Sue); Faye Caddick (Jacqui); Lucy Fiori (Theresa); Warren Kettle (Joe); Tom Highton (Peter) and Mike Sanders (David).

The script is what makes or breaks this work.

Although there were sound issues on the day I saw it, I also missed some crisp dialogue because a woman behind me was, ironically, eating a bag of crisps.

She was oblivious to the fact she was obliterating some very good observations from the writer.

It is the type of story that would certainly feel at home in the BBC series Moving On.

There is a false sense 9/11 of security running throughout.

What were people doing before Pompeii ... before 9/11?

Earlier this year I enjoyed what I would rate a five-star show called The comeback special at the Royal Court Studio, which deserves a run in the main theatre.

From October 5 the author's brand new piece Girls don't play guitars is another product of fresh, new writing.

And there is plenty of mileage in Those two weeks with some tweaking here and there to avoid lulls.

One thing is evident.

This writer from Bootle has an exciting future - a vibrant new voice with a lot to offer.

Ian Salmon is on a roll ...

Those two weeks

Four stars

A play for today

Until Saturday

Tickets from 0844 888 4411