Amélie Nothomb's three-hander has a professor of literature, his assistant, Daniel, and Marina, a student, attempting to survive a bitterly cold winter in a war-torn city under siege, where fuel, food and hope have all run out. With the barbarians at the gates, they have only two ways to keep warm: by burning the books in the professor's study, or by having vigorous sex with each other. When the last book is burned, they will have nothing left to live for.
Alas, the temperature never rises above lukewarm in a piece that springs no surprises and indulges French-speaking theatre's preference for the pretentious wrapped in the precious. "What is this, a talk show?" asks the professor, as the nitty-gritty of survival plays second fiddle to the characters' existential crises and philosophical musings on the nature of great art and the human condition. A talk show it certainly is: they've got to fill in the long hours somehow, so the professor and Marina indulge in petty mind games and the professor and Daniel discuss whether liking airport novels but pretending not to makes you a less admirable person. There is a touch of Yasmina Reza's Art about this piece.
It would be a truly dire evening were it not for a coolly impressive production from Natalie Abrahami (also the translator), which is most revealing and enjoyable in the interludes between the protagonists' chatter and pseudo-intellectual point-scoring. Colin Richmond's simple design, which offers a wall full of open books looking like birds about to take flight, is elegant and effective. Best of all, the acting from Edmund Dehn as the professor, Edmund Kingsley and Miriam Hughes is fresh and edgy, grabbing your attention even when the absurdities of the script have long forfeited it.
· Until January 22. Box office: 020-7620 3494.
