The performances are remarkable for each woman to retain their lines and deliver them with no pause for thought. Carly is listening to the football match on the radio where Leyton Orient is playing and which Delroy and, I think, Michael are attending.

After an hour of disputatious quarrelling, Carly and Denise reach an uneasy truce.  Denise will explain what Woke means to Black women who invented the term to describe the daily prejudice and disadvantages they face because of the colour of their skin. Denise will listen to Carly’s description of the racism she has faced when seen with Delroy and acknowledge her experience of a comparatively small amount of prejudice.

This third part was for me the least satisfactory. The conflict between the women seemed to me to be something that they would both have worked out when Carly’s daughter and Denise’s granddaughter was born, or else there would have been a permanent rift, which would have presented a real conflict for Delroy to choose between his mother and his partner and child.  I was also uncomfortable with how the jealousy and rivalry was expressed with the writers not quite achieving women’s voices.  Denise talked about being jealous of Delroy’s affection for his football club. I couldn’t recognise the charm or beauty with which Denise, being compared to Nefertiti, had captivated Michael or the humour, just the anger.  Both women appeared too hard. 

Closing Time feels more of an add on than an integral part of Death of England.  ULTZ’s set of the St George Cross too seemed to mean less in this female context. Don’t miss Delroy!