Ross Logan discovers that A Day in the Death of Joe Egg strikes a chord on a personal level with the Rose’s artistic director Stephen Unwin.

There is a moment in the Rose Theatre’s upcoming play, A Day in the Death of Joe Egg, that director Stephen Unwin finds particularly difficult.

It is when the actor playing Josephine, the mute, disabled daughter of the play’s two protagonists, bounds on to the stage and announces the interval.

It is a clever dramatic device employed by playwright Peter Nichols, as it shows the audience what little “Joe” – hitherto silent and wheelchair bound – would look and sound like as a “normal” child.

But for Unwin, who’s 16-year-old son Joey has global developmental delay, it is a reflection of some of the thoughts that have crossed his time too.

“It’s peculiar,” he says. “I’ve never had this experience before. I’ve never had something that’s been quite so weirdly close to me.

“Josephine is completely different to my Joey. She has cerebral palsy and can’t walk, whereas Joey has serious learning difficulties but can walk around.

“There’s things in this play you don’t hear anymore, but there’s some things which are very similar, about the way people think they can solve it.”

A Day in the Death of Joe Egg tells the story of Bri and Sheila whose marriage comes under intense pressure as they struggle to stay together while caring for their disabled daughter, nicknamed Joe Egg.

While the couple use increasingly dark humour to make light of their situation, the strain only gets worse, and the pair begin to consider some previously unthinkable solutions.

Just as the play does, Unwin believes it is important that parents, carers or friends of people with profound disability confront the grief that comes with the job.

He says: “What’s happening at the moment is we’re all being encouraged, for good reasons, to put it in a positive light. But there is this thing called grief and you have to work out what to do with that as well.

“The play does allow the expression of that frustration and that despair. When you’re in a situation which is so abnormal, you can’t pretend it is normal and you can’t pretend you asked for it.

“We’re all told the glass is half full and we must be positive. I work hard on that myself.

“But in my opinion, any parent of a seriously disabled child who says it’s the best thing that ever happened to them well, I’m sorry, I don’t believe that.”

But while the play’s premise may sound bleak, Unwin says newcomers to Nichols’ work will be surprised.

“What’s difficult to explain is that the play is actually funny, although very black,” he says.

“There’s a gallows humour which is how human beings deal with situations like that.”

A Day in the Death of Joe Egg; Rose Theatre, High Street; Kingston; Tuesday, April 30 to Saturday, May 18; £8 to £28.50; call 08444 821556 or visit rosetheatrekingston.org