The House of St Barnabas, tucked away in Soho, was founded in 1846 as a house of charity for destitute women. Wandering around its maze of atmospheric rooms, one wonders how many of the women who found themselves within its walls were brought low by love like the heroine of Christopher Marlowe's play. Enter through its narrow door and you will become embroiled in a deadly game of love and chance.
Those who know their Virgil will recall that Dido is the Libyan queen who gives refuge to the outcast general Aeneas in the aftermath of the sacking of Troy. In Marlowe's play, the callous gods instigate the pair's affair and then look down and laugh while this match made in heaven turns to hell, abandonment and death.
Angels in Architecture's promenade production makes a strong case for its way of working (producing rare classics in undiscovered spaces), but a weaker one for Marlowe's mangled play. The production is at its best when it is on the move: whenever we settle for too long, the deficiencies of the performances and of the young Marlowe's dramatic construction become apparent.
It's an uneven couple of hours, but there are plenty of pleasures along the way, including the portrayal of the gods as a collection of 1920s-style sybarites casually sending humans to their destruction. Rebecca McCutcheon makes great use of the space, too, from the plain lines of the refectory where we become courtiers at Dido's table, to the intimacies of the chapel with its golden mosaics. Not quite the perfect theatrical treat, but tempting none the less.
· Until June 24. Box office: 0870 600100.
