''Do you find it hard? Getting close? I want to get close but I can''t stop blowing things apart. Vexing people like a bomb''

Janie''s a force of nature, like some considerable disaster zone. It''s baking hot, her mouth is peeling away and now she''s got horns. Been on her head for yonks apparently, growing... Roper can feel his grandson Linden pulling away from him, pushing him away... like his eyes are mini pebbles all suddenly.

Like everyone, Josefa needs a bit of a miracle to happen. One summer''s night, with the help of a paddling pool, a baby dragon and a bottle of gin, it does. But how long can anything perfect last?

Funny, open-hearted, surprising and strange, The Cracks in My Skin is a new kind of love story...a new kind of family. It opened at The Studio at Manchester Royal Exchange, in February 2008.