Yvette Parsons displays immaculate comic timing playing a sugary-sweet maternal figure with a platitude for every occasion and Micheala Rooney brings a nicely deranged edge to her portrayal of self-sustaining neurosis.
The second play I'd Rather Be The Pope is even more boldly experimental.
A compelling vision of the Inquisition against the Cathar heresy in 14th century Languedoc is intercut with scenes of a hardcore gamer unwillingly submitting to therapy for his gaming addiction.
The surreal juxtaposition is arrestingly weird but the two worlds never quite mesh and the contemporary story struggles to hold its own against the blistering intensity of the historical drama.
Leighton Cardno convincingly evokes the surly emotional blankness of a troubled gamer but is given little opportunity to establish a credible motive for his psychopathic tendencies.
David Berresford gives a moving account of the anguish felt by a victim of the Inquisition and his gentle affirmation of religious mysticism provides an optimistic antidote to the bleakness of a world where human relationships have been reduced to manipulative game-playing.
What: Intimacies
Where: Victoria Theatre, Devonport
When: Until Sunday
