This Lime Tree Bower New Theatre, Essex Street

The newly-formed Foursight Theatre Company is making its professional debut with Conor McPherson's This Lime Tree Bower

The newly-formed Foursight Theatre Company is making its professional debut with Conor McPherson's This Lime Tree Bower. It is structured in the author's early mode, largely one of monologues. Here there are three of them, cleverly interwoven.

Joe (Alan Leech) is a schoolboy just beginning to savour the tastes of post-puberty. His elder brother Frank (Michael Fitzgerald) works in the family fish-and-chipper; and a raffish college lecturer named Ray (Jaimie Carswell) is taking their sister out - and in.

The fluid 70-minute narrative holds the attention from the start, and moves into high gear when the trio become involved in a hold-up of a corrupt bookie, a minor gangster figure. A wholly credible ending is fashioned to their edge-of-danger escapade.

The three actors, still studying drama at Trinity College, are already quite assured and confident in their stage personae. They hit the right notes for their characters, ranging from naive to sophisticated. The roles here are naturalistic, and not over-challenging; but they can be done poorly or well. Here they are excellent, and well worth a visit.

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Runs to February 26th; to book 01-6703361