"Pay attention to my heart!" Good advice, but it comes too late for the protagonists of Chris Goode's quaintly original two-hander. The play improbably - but successfully - entwines two stories: one of two young men who were imprisoned for life for a motiveless murder, the other of a 12th-century mystic, Mary of Oignies, who was noted for her visions and ecstatic weeping. It is a highly unusual 90 minutes, baffling and bewildering by turns, but also bewitching as it charts the dangers of loving too little and the pain of loving too much.
The action cuts quickly between the SAS-style preparations of the youngsters, Edsel and his protege Petrel, for their mission to find and "kill a pimp", and a TV-style interview with the mystic. This makes considerable demands upon the actors, Tom Lyall and Greg McLaren, who play interviewer and mystic with the same accomplished ease with which they inhabit the eager young killers. The latter pair, you suspect, would be considerably less dangerous if they would only direct their murderous impulses into love and sexual consummation. Edsel's denial, however, leads inexorably to Petrel's shocking act of violence.
Goode's script has plenty of dash, but it is not just surface dazzle - although I suspect there are some who might find it more affected than affecting in its mixture of poetic wordplay with contemporary references, often in the same sentence. My only quibble is that the piece is eight years old; while it confirms that Goode's talent was moulded early, he has since moved on as a writer/director with Kiss of Life and Napoleon in Exile. Still, if you haven't caught the later work and want to know why Goode is going to be a major player in British theatre, head for Weepie and take your hankie with you.
· Until June 6. Box office: 020-7916 5878.
