Composer Elena Kats Chernin’s soaring strings spiral through the score, underlining the potency of Grace’s platonic love and sibling connection in the face of life’s adversities. It invites us, alongside Grace, to shed our shells.

Pitch-black humour occasionally punctures the misery of Elliot’s dark, antipodean fable. The jokes are quite angular. The number plate of the bus that takes Gilbert away reads YRUSAD. For all the gloom, this is a lovely, heartfelt creation.

It's very funny, but it's also extremely poignant and at times, it's heartbreaking.

Grace’s heroism isn’t about saving Christmas or rescuing Coraline’s parents. It comes from having an unendurable life, that, against all odds, she somehow endures.