Four star

The company's second production performed in an upstairs pub room was an interesting, thought-provoking affair.

Three plays, including two monologues, in a setting so intimate you sometimes felt you were intruding.

Kept Woman featured a fine performance by Victoria Brazier playing Mary, a lonely and naive 16 year old whose 'dad was out and mum was dead', leading to a rather grubby encounter with a stranger.

Pru, the second play, was a wonderful forum for Sue Kimberley's prodigious acting talent and was wickedly funny.

Pru loses her lover of 15 years and meets his wife for the first time at the funeral.

They hit it off and then decide they didn't love him after all - or maybe they did just a bit.

Blackberries was a bittersweet family drama with frightful old harridan Eleanor (Freda Barratt) making a misery of her daughter Shirley's (Janette Summerfield) life while son Peter (Lloyd Lee) worships the ground she walks on.

This raw piece was funny, sad and shocking.

Good performances in a simple setting to a small audience.

The fledgling theatre company's only limitation is the size of the room they perform in.

But that's not a bad thing.

JS