Crestfall lacks full force

Mark O'Rowe dips his pen deep in rivers of human effluvia. His is an urban Ireland peopled by pimps and shysters, hookers and junkies, where hotel receptionists tote shotguns and three-eyed dogs prowl for human sexual gratification. It's the hyper-reality, near mythic dystopia that fans of his earlier Howie The Rookie will be familiar with.

Aside from the dark glitter of the poetry, the serrated shard-of-glass style that O'Rowe has made his own, Crestfall has much in common with its predecessor. A series of monologues again overlap, repositioning the action, filling in histories, carrying forwards a violent narrative with terrifying momentum.

But in this instance, the female triumvirate on stage is unequally balanced, and the shot of searing drama O'Rowe concocts doesn't find its vein. Rósín McBrinn directs with surgical precision: Niamh Cusack as an embattled wife and mother, Orla Fitzgerald as a heroin-addled whore, and Pauline Hutton as a sexually avaricious fury are all hauntingly impeccable.

But, though the darkness of the setting is horrifyingly credible, Hutton's character simply isn't. Even her name, Olive Day, stinks of cliché. Like any old 1950s B-movie, it is Olive's inexplicable nymphomania that wreaks the play's havoc. This oddly tired, siren motif unhinges O'Rowe's latest drama, robbing it of the full force of his explosive talent.

Until Dec 15, Theatre 503, 503 Battersea Park Road SW11, Tue to Sat 8pm, Sun mats 5pm, £12, £8 concs, Tue pay what you can. Tel: 020 7978 7040. www.theatre503.com Rail: Clapham Junction

Crestfall
Theatre 503, The Latchmere Pub
Battersea Park Road, SW11 3BW