Failed relationships and washed-up dreams

Theatre: Yo Yo; Warehouse Theatre, Croydon

Yo Yo

Warehouse Theatre, Croydon

Exile, desolation and abuse drive the lives of three people stranded together on the Cornish coast. This frenetic two-act play by Dino Mahoney deserves the South London International Playwriting Award, which it won last year.

The attic room of a shoddy B&B into which the holiday-making sun never shines is the warped frame for this drama of failed relationships and washed-up childhood dreams. Sandra (Kim Taylforth) is the landlady who is looking for an excuse to eject Kevin (Alan Perrin), a teacher from London on an access visit to his four-year-old son, in order to relet his room. Kevin is vulnerable and finds himself drawn into the world of Lego, a seductive, lippy teenager who turns up on his bed and then won't leave him alone.

As a first play, is as smoothed and well-turned as a beach pebble, and Jessica Dromgoole has little more to do than follow meticulous stage directions to produce a vigorous production which spins and turns on a moral dilemma, generating fire and friction.