Alan Francis and Mike Hayley's play follows Alan and Mike, a 40-something, odd couple whose flat sharing is taking a distinct turn for the worse after Alan's obsession with serial killers begins to interfere with Mike's model aeroplane collecting. Jeffrey Dahmer may be unwell, but this comic two-hander left me in a deep malaise.
Apparently the play was a cult success when it premiered in Edinburgh a decade ago, although we should bear in mind that a cult is not quite enough people to make a minority. Perhaps 10 years ago making jokes about serial killers was tastelessly funny, but today it all looks quite tame even with a script updated to include Harold Shipman and Coldplay.
Essentially this is a series of jokes masquerading as a play. When Alan ponders which serial killer he should impersonate for the annual fancy dress party at his club, Serial Killers International - "There are always 18 Jack the Rippers: one for each theory" - the comedy is spot on. Unfortunately not all the jokes hit the mark, mainly due to Francis and Hayley themselves who seem uncertain about their lines and muff the timing badly. With better actors the piece could just have a dark, Joe Orton-esque appeal but at present it just looks lazy.
The play perks up substantially in the second half when Alan, preparing for the fancy dress party, hears the news that Derek Newcombe, a transvestite serial killer who butchered 12 cross-dressers, has escaped from prison. At this point the plot takes an ingenious turn and a sequence of farcical events, involving an answering machine and Sean Connery's parrot, give the play a much-needed boost. Still it comes too late to save an evening whose only real virtue is that it beats being hacked to death in a bath of acid.
· Until March 12. Box office: 020 7226 1916
