Uplifting success

It was hard to see how a work written by one of the outstanding playwrights of the current generation, designed by one half of the Shockheaded Peter team and brought to the stage by two of Britain's most energetic and innovative theatre companies was ever going to be less than a great success.

Happily, Abi Morgan's Tiny Dynamite, presented by new writing dynamo Paines Plough and physical theatre specialists Frantic Assembly, follows the formbook exactly to give a beautifully crafted 75 minutes of elegiac, yet ultimately uplifting, theatre.

Lucien and Anthony (played with great compassion by Frantic's coartistic directors Scott Graham and Steven Hoggett) are twentysomething friends who are struggling to get on with their lives. Somewhere in their not-too-distant past stands a jagged wall of grief, which neither is capable

of surmounting. But on holiday they meet livewire Madeleine (Lesley Hart, who gives another excellent performance after her acclaimed turn in last year's Outlying Islands), who, while bringing much-needed life and laughter to the pair, unwittingly involves them in an emotionally risky Jules et Jim scenario.

In a series of short, sometimes staccato scenes punctuated by loud bursts of music akin to sound suddenly echoing around a mausoleum, Morgan gradually and cleverly lifts the veils on the past to reveal why the friends are inextricably linked.

Julian Crouch's bare set, enlivened by the occasional well-chosen prop or use of projected visuals, is perfect for this fast-moving type of theatre, which director Vicky Featherstone ensures is nevertheless always anchored in a fundamental humanity and compassion.

Morgan's writing also oozes both of these qualities; Anthony's quirky tale of the lonely old lady in Florida who forms an unlikely friendship with her postman beautifully encapsulates the heart that pulses in the centre of this fractured modern love story.

Until 22 February. Box Office: 08700 500 511.

Tiny Dynamite