Sparks but no fire

Fen and Staide are crack addicts; Teale is a crack dealer. Together they eke out a twilight existence within London's squalid bedsit underbelly.

Ostensibly, the three are friends, but the ropes of dependency that bind them also make them capable of distrusting and dispensing with each other. When Staide suggests to Fen that Teale is having an affair with his girlfriend, Sissy, Fen plots his revenge.

Simon Bennett's play, performed by Synergy Theatre - a company that works with offenders and ex-offenders - is not terrific. The characterisation needs development, the motivation is unclear, the plot is muddled.

Taken overall, however, it taps persuasively into the end-game of drug addiction, refusing to shine any hopeful light into a world reduced to the twin needs of money and drugs. The four characters exist entirely apart from the rest of society, with Fen, in particular, embodying a bleak, moral nihilism.

The dialogue - well-handled by the cast - is peppered with acidic humour, while Esther Baker's direction is suitably claustrophobic. Some performances need work and, at less than an hour long, Burn lacks dramatic depth.

Bennett also plays Fen - so well it seems he has a promising acting career ahead of him, although it would also be a shame if he didn't write another play.

Until Jul 31, Southwark Playhouse, 62 Southwark Bridge Road SE1, Mon to Sat 7.30pm, £10, £6 concs, Mon all seats £5. Tel: 020 7620 3494. Tube: Borough

Burn - National Theatre Shell Connections 2005