THEATRE / Collecting the Twentieth Century - BAC Studio

The shrewdly-chosen vehicle for Changeinspeak's apocalyptic fin de siecle drama is the dark serial-kill thriller - currently perhaps the most potent image of this century's malaise. Simon Blake's script and production have a faint, rootless unreality: we seem to be in Britain, yet a city governor is about to be elected; an arbitrary murderer stalks the streets with a cleaver; a disillusioned journalist performs barefoot and bare-chested throughout, taping conversations with his lover and his own nightmares; a man obsessed with the killings is also able to quote the history of the Beatles. This gives a sense of a society on the brink of self-destruction.

The production succeeds in spite of the improbable moral dilemma on which the plot hinges. Despite his apparent youth, Sam Halpenny gives a creditable performance as Matthew Wynan, a manipulated gubernatorial candidate. Paul Besterman has to double too many roles, but makes a convincingly slimy campaign manager and a brutish cop.

Aside from the performances, the main strength here is the atmosphere of gloom and doom which pulls the play out of its first- act doldrums. After the interval, Blake's script begins to ask real, incisive questions about trust. Brave and remarkable.

To Oct 11 (071-223 2223)