POPCORN is a brilliant and clever play by well-known writer and comedian Ben Elton.

It was an ambitious production for a small amateur company but, despite my initial reservations, the Pepperpot Players pulled it off.

Set in Hollywood on the night of the Oscars, it involves a smug Tarantino-like film director famous for his slick, clever and incredibly violent films. Celebrating his Oscar win with an aspiring actress his life is turned upside down when the "Mall Murderers", a pair of trailer trash killers turn up at his luxury home.

The entire cast, particularly Cliff and Vanessa Dawe as the cleverer-than-they-look killers, played their roles well and the shootings, although not unexpected, always managed to make me jump. A fantastic and funny play, with complex and clever dialogue, Popcorn is packed full of the most wonderfully awful characters.

It's a mix of black humour and scary, random murders but also has serious things to say about fame, publicity, the media and responsibility.

My favourite characters were Brooke Daniels (played by Alison Harris), the Playboy model desperate to be taken seriously, and Scout (played by Vanessa Dawe), who managed to be sweet and likeable as the violent murderer's deadly sidekick.

Sue Vickers