Falling into infertility

Shelley Silas's Falling, the second offering in the Bush Theatre's Naked Talent season of plays by new writers, is all about babies. Linda (Patricia Kerrigan) and Pete (Adam Kotz) have been gambling on IVF for some years; their only payout has been a series of miscarriages and the attendant emotional battering. Enter Grace (Abby Ford), Kate's 16-year-old niece, full of sloshing hormones and, it turns out, effortlessly and carelessly fertile.

Falling - like too many new plays - would have benefited from more rigorous development and editing. The first scene is a mess and Silas strikes too many unconvincing (or rather obvious) notes. The characterisations stretch and shift: Grace talks half of the time like an adult; her mother Kate (Jennifer Black) is implausibly insensitive to her sister Linda's distress.

But Falling improves considerably as it progresses. Silas has captured well the jokey, worn familiarity of Pete and Linda's relationship and Kotz is particularly impressive in his understated performance as Pete. The dialogue boasts some nice comedy (Grace complains that her boyfriend thinks a 'Thatcherite is someone who fixes roofs'). And when she gets to it, Silas's central conflict between those granted fertility and those not movingly illuminates the cruel lottery of biology and the dreams we attach to children.

Falling is showing until Nov 30, The Bush, Shepherd's Bush Green W12, Mon to Sat 8pm, £12.50 and £13.50, £8.25 and £8.75 concs. Tel: 020 7610 4224. Tube: Shepherd's Bush

Falling: Naked Talent Festival