DOROTHY Parker is now remembered more for her iconoclastic wit, as expressed in theatre and book reviews as well as conversationally, than for any more serious achievement as a creative writer. She did turn out a few satirical stories and some poetry of merit, but her fame mostly rests on well, her fame.

American writer/actor Victoria Thompson has compiled, entirely from Parker's own writings and words, a scenario covering her life from her entry to the literary scene to her death in her 70s.

It begins in the magazine world of Vogue, Vanity Fair and The New Yorker, where she met lifelong friends Robert Benchley and Robert Sherwood, and found her way into the precious literary circle known as the, Algonquin Round Table, which she would out g row.

From there we follow her through her several marriages, and to Hollywood where she largely wasted her talents, although she made a lot of money. Throughout the play we get the impression of a serious mind subordinated to the demands of money and reputation.

Victoria Thompson's solo animation of her own script is absorbing and often captivating. She has a tall, sinewy presence with just the kind of mobile face and clipped expression to deliver the sardonic quips, narratives and put downs. It is a very sympathetic portrait of Dorothy Parker in, after all, her own words and a very empathetic evening.