Nocturne, Almeida Theatre, London

With its halting bits of Grieg and its films of waves rolling in to shore, it is plain, even without considering the text, that Adam Rapp's Nocturne is meant to be achingly lyrical. This 110-minute monologue, directed by Matt Wilde and performed, with a wistful gee-whiz air, by Peter McDonald, is, however, never more than earnestly lyrical.

It tells us about a nameless man who accidentally kills his sister and then spends the next 15 years being impotent and working in a bookshop. There are lots of clichés and lots of lists, including several of the books the narrator reads and one of celebrity and fictional suicides. "But you never hear about it with children." Evidently all those books didn't include any by Thomas Hardy.

'Nocturne' to 26 July (020-7359 4404)

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