After last week's faltering start with The President Has Come To See You, it feels like the Royal Court's weekly rep is starting to get into its stride.

The second of six plays in the Open Court season, Death Tax by New York writer Lucas Hnath, while not perfect felt a more rounded and, crucially, rehearsed.

Set in a nursing home, Maxine (Anne Calder-Marshall) is an elderly resident who suspects her daughter (Siobhan Redmond) has paid a nurse (Natasha Gordon) to speed her demise to avoid inheritance tax changes that will diminish what she is bequeathed.

To foil the plot, Maxine pays the nurse an additional sum to try and keep her alive until after the tax changes come into force. It sets off a string of dodgy deals where morals and motives are examined as truth becomes distorted.

And in the main there is some really interesting stuff in this piece and some cracking dialogue. The problem is that it feels like two slightly different plays cut and shut together. The final and fifth scene works better with the first and raises interesting questions about the prolonging of life and if we have the ability should we and who should pay?