There's a common response to modern art that goes along the lines of: "My six-year-old could do better than that." Christopher William Hill doesn't go quite that far, though he does suggest a 16-year-old could take the contemporary art world for a ride.
Mr Jensen is a hygiene-conscious headmaster who believes the first step in turning a failing school around is to refurbish the toilets. But his dreams of pristine porcelain are wrecked when problem pupil Ryan daubs the cubicles in graffiti. Jensen denounces the act as an outrage, but liberal art teacher Dolby declares it a masterpiece and immediately rings an old colleague who runs a pretentious gallery in Wimbledon. Before you know it, European collectors are bidding outrageous sums for a set of toilet doors.
For as long as the action remains rooted in a sink school in Stockton, Hill reels out a hilariously pertinent parody of the education system. "You have the makings of a very good teacher," Jensen informs his art master. "You just need to lower your standards a bit, that's all."
Yet the satire becomes less secure when the scene shifts to a swanky London gallery. The jokes are still in strong supply - when asked why she purchased a bucket of sick, the owner replies: "It's a nice bucket." But cliched conceptual art makes a fairly easy target, and Hill seems to have few qualms about tapping into that cynical vein of humour shared by those who found the 2004 Momart warehouse fire the funniest thing in years.
You can't fault the performances in Laurie Sansom's production, particularly Michael Imerson as the truculent, teenage genius and Michael Bertenshaw as the agitated headmaster, more concerned with plumbing than exam performance. It's a witty, keenly observed piece; but, as Alan Bennett once pointed out, when you resort to going to the toilet for your humour, the writing's on the wall.
· Until July 1. Box office: 01723 370541.
