After losing its old name in a legal battle, the theatre on Battersea Park Road previously known as the Latchmere has resurfaced as Theatre 503. Names of course don't really matter, it is the quality of the work that counts, and the first play in the new season demonstrates that this South London furnace of new writing has lost none of its heat.
Gary Owen's two-hander is a strange little number, charting the unlikely friendship of two young women doing jobs they hate in a Welsh call centre.
Relief comes in the regular fag breaks, during which they sit outside and watch the skateboarders, contemplate genocide as a form of aerobic workout, consider aesthetics and the Welsh language, and wait to get cancer. Only life has a habit of springing little surprises that often turn out to be nasty even when they come wrapped in tissue paper and ribbon.
Like sushi or hazelnut yoghurt, Owen's play is something of an acquired taste. Initially it seems stilted and contrived, but as the young women begin to break down the barriers that surround them, what emerges is an unspoken but deeply felt relationship, something fragile and yet solid, in a world of piss and puke, uncertainty and terror.
As ever, Owen proves himself a master at creating a world that seems ordinary and yet has something strange and dark stalking it at the edges: he captures much of the sense of anxiety that haunts our age.
Tonya Smith as the annoying chatterbox Iola and Karen Paullada as the breakable Marad are both very good indeed in Alex Clifton's confident production of a small play with underlying seismic rumbles. Clearly, despite the name change, it is business as usual on Battersea Park Road.
· Until September 26. Box office: 020-7978 7040
