Royal Flush

Flush

An everyday story of poker, sex, murder and misogyny, David Dipper's first play Flush packs a lot into its 45 minutes. Too much, really (the audience asides suggest a writer with more ideas than he knows how to shape).

Flush's formal innovations are tied to a sordid story in debt to Britflick gangsterisms. Combined with Bigan Sheibani's sharp, superbly performed production, it's exciting to watch but hard to believe in. Dipper has enough ambition and skill to be a name to watch.

And Katherine Parkinson as the doomed Lilly and Darren Tighe (both pictured) as toothless card-shark Francis stand out. But Flush's fixations with fourletter words, fellatio and fractured male egos are a little overfamiliar.

A Very Naughty Boy

Playing on the same set is A Very Naughty Boy, Adrian Poynton's sincere, wellresearched life story of the late Monty Python star Graham Chapman. Something must have happened to this two-hander between Edinburgh - where it won a Fringe First - and the Soho Theatre, where it seems to be pining for the fjords.

Gamely pastiching Python sketches, Poynton's glum Chapman and Tom Price's intermittently uncanny John Cleese take us through their years working together. Feckless Chapman, a gay ex-doctor who downs two litres of gin a day, annoys cold fish Cleese, who writes most of their material.

The best moments raise the emotional stakes, such as when Chapman comes out to his parents. Elsewhere, this slightly stiff bioplay conveys the frustrations of a troubled, shy man but not his comic genius.

Until May 8, Soho Theatre And Writers Centre, 21 Dean Street W1, Flush Mon to Sat 7.30pm, Wed and Sat mats 4pm, £10, £8 concs, Mon all seats £5, A Very Naughty Boy Mon to Sat 9pm, £14 to £15, £10 to £12.50 concs, Mon all seats £5.
Tel: 020 7478 0100. www.sohotheatre.com Tube: Tottenham Court Road/Piccadilly Circus