Postcards prove too brief

The RSC's New Works Festival continues with a double bill of plays by two young American playwrights

Both pieces are intriguing but the title is apt: these are postcards rather than in-depth dispatches.

David Adjani's monologue, Elective Affinities, sees a manicured, upper-crust socialite (Suzanne Burden on superb form) sipping afternoon tea and discussing art and torture.

With teeth as pearly white as her necklace, and a magnificent, honking laugh like a gaggle of Canada geese, she's unconcerned about her ignorance ('I've never been to Africa, but I've been to the Guggenheim'): charming, even as she dismisses human rights.

An indictment of callousness, Adjani's play chips away at the veneer of civilisation to reveal the savagery beneath.

The character's final, Daleklike howl of 'Eliminate them' is hardly subtle but Dominic Cooke's production is ruthlessly amusing - and as chilling as an ice cube down the back.

Brett Neveu's nervy little drama, Eric Larue, deals with a community's attempts to come to terms with a high school massacre.

We watch in horror as a ghastly local pastor orchestrates and bungles a meeting between the mother of the murderer and the mothers of his victims.

Neveu is strong on the stifled desperation and rage of all concerned - and the way discussions break down in the face of powerful emotions.

And Lia Williams is excellent as the killer's mother, a meek, frazzled woman with a tortured look, who nurses her bitterness in secret.

But the play dawdles and it lacks a real centre.

The RSC's New Work Festival: Postcards From America (Elective Affinities/Eric Larue)