First produced in Belfast in 1983, 'Tea in a China Cup' is a bittersweet history of 3 generations of women told through memories of family pride and tradition, and a granddaughter's fear of being alone for the first time. As Beth's elderly mother lies dying she tells her family's story: of her childhood presided over by a grandmother and a great aunt fiercely protective of Protestant standards; of her adolescence confused by a mother too respectable to explain sexuality. But beneath the cold respectability and sectarian feud is a warm heart, and the melancholy of the play is tinged with humour and sympathetic observation.