Despite a hypnotic plot and a fast pace, The Country wasn't outstanding. But as an entertaining mystery about infidelity, passion and lies, it wasn't all bad either.

The Country, by Martin Crimp, is acted out by three characters; the neurotic Corinne (Aoife Stone), her squeaky-clean doctor husband, Richard (James Profumo) and a beautiful young woman called Rebecca (Lily Sykes), whom he finds unconscious by the side of the road as he returns from a house call. Or so we are led to believe as the play opens.

For this is a play of twisted meanings and deception; the characters meld seamlessly through many different states, forcing you to side first with one, then another as more of the sordid details come to light.

The play motors along, driven by an effective, if fairly clichéd, plot, the mundanity of which is saved mainly by the deft characterisation by the actors. All three characters continually walk the twilight zone between many opposing states; they tread the grey area between being the strong one or the weak, the good one or the bad, the victim or the manipulator, always leaving just enough doubt for the next twist of plot to be utterly believable, and indeed, in retrospect, clear to anyone who had been looking for it.

In fact, the acting was generally good, with only the occasional disappointment. Lily Sykes couldn't be faulted, and even managed to cope with a fast-igniting handbag into which a cigarette stub had been nonchalantly thrown minutes earlier (which just goes to show smoking really can kill you). However, in the opening scene in particular, Aoife Stone seemed to be nervous, and appeared to try and counter this by overacting. This wasn't entirely her fault, as a lot of her dialogue was quite Pinteresque, running along the lines of, "What are you looking at?" "Looking?" [pause for effect] "Yes, looking" "I was looking at." "Yes?" "The trees. I was looking at the trees [odd laugh]." However, her counterpart, James Profumo, seemed fully at ease with the dialogue, and made it sound very natural indeed. As the trustworthy doctor, he certainly exuded confidence and honest dependability. At least, until the next scene.

But I'm not going to spill the beans on that one. If you want to know whodunnit, or in this case, whodunwhat, you'll just have to go and see it. I can't promise a life-changing experience, but it is certainly an entertaining enough evening to make you forget the world outside for a short while, and to transport you to another world where nothing is as it first seems.

Isabel Owen, 28.10.03