It would take a stony soul not to be uplifted by the gospel music which peppers Robin Soans' family drama.

But don't be fooled - these slivers of harmony are merely softening you up for the casual cruelty which inevitably follows.

We meet the Gillards as they gather at their Caribbean home, which lends the play its title, to discuss arrangements for their mother's funeral.

Her body may barely be cold, but they don't let that get in the way of their internal power struggle as they jostle for position for their own distant 'ascension' to heaven.

The return of outcast Joshua to the fold ratchets up the internal tensions tearing this deeply religious family apart.

Four years later they reunite at the festering London flat where their father Eli is living out his last days.

While the power balance may have shifted, the same conflicts soon surface as their compete over whose faith is purest.

The only time they are of one voice is when they lose themselves in the sweet gospel melodies which are so central to their faith.

Perseverance Drive has much in common with these simple but irresistibly powerful hymns at its heart.

The message - in this case that unexamined faith soon turns rotten - is steamrollered home, with little in the way of subtlety.

But it's made with such grace, humour and lack of judgement - in stark contrast to its proud protagonists - that it's impossible not to get carried along.

Madani Younis' sprightly direction keeps things rattling along, and, amid a fine cast, Leo Wringer stands out as the family's elder statesman Eli, struggling to overcome a lifetime's prejudices.

In a fitting tribute to the late, great author, the final word is left to Maya Angelou, who died in May this year.

When the assembled clergy hear her words, which marry the power and simplicity of the parables by which they lead their lives with an understanding of human weakness so alien to them, they shake their heads and vow to look it up in the Good Book.

* Perseverance Drive is at the Bush Theatre, in Uxbridge Road, Shepherd's Bush, until August 16.