Oliver thinks that on the whole he has been a good person. Unfortunately, there is "just this one little thing". The "little thing" is that he is a paedophile. Since he was a teenager, he has been unable to control his urge to have sex with underage girls - the younger the better: "I am not dangerous and I've never been violent. I just like young girls."
David Hines's monologue is not comfortable viewing, but it is a gripping 80 minutes as Oliver sits in his sad, dingy bedsit, waiting for the police to come and rescue him from the baying mob outside. The main reason this doesn't feel merely voyeuristic and grubby is Andrew C Wadsworth's remarkable performance as a man who knows he has ruined his own life by his sexual obsession but is totally unable to accept that he has ruined the lives of his victims. His very ordinariness and apparent unassuming niceness make you shiver; he is so plausible that you might indeed be persuaded to entrust your daughters to him.
Other plays, such as The Sugar Syndrome and Frozen, have got inside the mind of the paedophile with greater complexity. However, Hines's piece is strikingly effective in the way it almost makes you sympathise with its protagonist. You nearly start believing Oliver's self-justifications; you find yourself manipulated by this man who has spent a lifetime inventing clever ways to entice young girls away with him without attracting the attention of the police.
Hines's script is not pleasant. Its power lies partly in the way it entirely neglects the victim's point of view - thus exposing Oliver's confidences as being all the more chilling.
· Until October 3. Box office: 020-7482 4857.
