This is a comedy that has numerous genuine laugh-out-loud moments, as well as moments of sheer pathos. Delving into the eternal triangluar-relationship issue (though a 4th character called Roger makes an appearance, it must be said), the play explores the relationships between 3 people - a 'happily' married couple and their single long-term friend. The latter, Russ, is looking to rebuild his life after a disastrous relationship, assisted by his Star Trek obsessed friend Frank, and his wife Jo. It is 'outrageous' at times, but it is also well crafted with some wonderful mini vignettes. Another very good script from Joe Graham. Importantly also are the excellent performances from all 3 members of the cast (and Roger) - who take on a variety of parts throughout. Clever, fast, witty, obscene, sad - and all too true in places. Definitely one to catch for a fun night out.

Bonking, Bluffing and Boldly Going!

Joe Graham's Spare Prick presented at the OFS through to Saturday by Balancing Act got off to a pacy start tonight. The intimate location of the Old Fire Station provides an ideal setting for a ground-breaking piece of intimate theatre which "boldly goes where few plays have been before".

The Startrek allusion parallels the lives of a man who has set a course, his wife who is reluctantly mainly 'crew' for this journey and a best friend who is wifeless, courseless and desperate. The three actors, James Card, Steve Hay and Sara Graham could not have been better cast to steer this new play through the vast emptiness of Graham's entirely original eternal triangle.

Graham takes on real issues of emotional and political society, facing head-on the confusion of sexual relationships and the terrors of loneliness and negative partnerships. He shows us, with hilarious comedy, the ridiculousness of our human condition within the context of speed dating, computer relationships and distant sex. (Sorry this was new to me; and it didn't look like equal fun for both parties - though it was incredibly funny to watch!)

Very definitely Graham's play is a 'play for today'. It lets us look without embarrassment at issues which we have nowhere near enough language to communicate. The oscillations between the real, the imagined and the symbolic are cued brilliantly by a very skilful lighting plot and a set design pared down just enough to suggest all three. The actors in turn change their characters and perform miraculously complex scenelets within each stage discipline; Stanislavski would have a heart attack!

The result is an evening of very entertaining theatre which has the power to cause just the right amount of discomfort for you to know you have been reached. If the play fails at all in its ambitious target, it is in providing just a few jumps too many. Strong emotional responses, carefully built over several minutes of well-observed, naturalistic dialogue are suddenly transposed by figurative or fantasy scenes. Humour is end-on with tragedy as in all great works of theatre, but sometimes the integrity of individual characters matters too much to enable the magic of the acting to make emotional impact. Credibility is sometimes a victim.

There is so much that is enjoyable and worthwhile within this piece and it is so well presented and acted that the best thing a reviewer can say at this point is - Go and see it! Pictures are worth a thousand words - and Graham's words are a great deal more skilfully constructed than mine. On until Saturday 14th September.