If there was ever a play to give credence to the advice 'write what you know', Mogadishu is it. Playwright Vivienne Franzmann has such a keen ear for dialogue, and so quickly drags you into the heart of the action, it is easy to forget you're watching a play at all. It comes as no surprise to learn that she spent a dozen years teaching in a London comprehensive.

The story here is a simple one: Amanda, an idealisitic teacher (Jackie Clune) is pushed to the floor when she intervenes to stop black student Jason (Ryan Calais) beating up a Turkish pupil (Michael Karim). Willing to give Jason the benefit of the doubt, she delays informing acting school Head Chris (James Barriscale) just long enough for Jason to convince the witnesses to back his story that he retaliated to physical and racist verbal provocation.

This simple, entirely believable premise is then examined from all sides, with the attendant ripples turning to waves that rock friends and families on all sides.

The large ensemble is likewise convincing and authentic; so much so it would be invidious to single any individuals out for special praise.

I did find myself wondering if the second act might be better if pruned a little, and whether Amanda was a little too trusting in human nature to be entirely believed as an experienced inner-city teacher - but if flaws at all, these are far from fatal.

If all debut plays were this good, and attracted so many young theatre-goers, the theatre would be far richer for it.

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'Shakespeare Unbound: A Gift to the Future' at the Bierkeller Theatre was quite the entrancing revelation last night. Produced by French theatre company La Compagnie du Cèdre it starred British-born actor and director Colin David Reese in a one man show as John Heminges, mentor and playing compatriot of the young William Shakespeare. Beginning with Heminges' triumphant hoisting of a final folio comprising the entirety of the Bard's dramatic works (save for Pericles and one or two other other unfinished pieces), which took him seven years to complete, this success leads the charismatic old actor to muse upon his life in the arts, intertwined with the story of Shakespeare himself.

And a fascinating story it is, from how 'young Will' joins the players' company by chance initially, the glory days of the celebrated poet in 1590s London and the intriguing fortunes and pitfalls to befall a jobbing theatre company in Elizabethan Britain. As much as any personage of any age can enjoy this well-told and entertaining monologue, I would wager that it would be particularly of interest to groups of schoolchildren, bringing alive a subject that all too often is choked within the unimaginative weeds of a staid national curriculum.

Colin David Reese is excellent and expressive as John Heminges, embracing the audience into his amiable onstage persona, literally at some points as audience interaction is used to explore Shakespeare's lasting legacy today. Admittedly there were a couple of script slip-ups here and there - the mistaking of 'wife' and 'son' at a particularly poignant moment verged on the unforgivable - but these should be shaken out once the production hits its stride. Although, perversely enough, it was actually the extracts from Shakespeare's works themselves that were just a little too long, slowing down the pace and distracting from the main storyline. As dramatic punches they were great, interposed within the more sanguine greater narrative, but the punch lost its potency the longer it was indulged.

Perhaps also, the faintly magical and searingly poignant final image will stay with you long after the performance has finished.

Unfortunately the same can not quite be said of the second play in this double bill. It lacked the other's quiet power and often strayed into the areas of cliche, predictability and, most unbearably, dullness. Characters were given forced depths rather than actual rich complexity; a stilted stereotype of a Catholic schoolgirl (more akin to a mental patient judging by her utter lack of cohesion with the modern world) traipsed in unenlightened blocking around a bohemian Parisian artist. Although the bohemian Parisian artist had been painted on a surface level as a top technical director, supposedly in an attempt to avoid the obvious, but the role is never adequately backed up and sits at odds with her constant drinking and love of sensuality.

A man I greatly admire in the theatre world once said that when he walks into an auditorium and sees three chairs upon the stage he's tempted to walk straight back out again. This point was exemplified in this production; there was nothing for the two characters to do other than sit down, stand up and pour drinks. Perhaps if the characters had been fleshed out better it would have been more enjoyable but they had stock back stories that hadn't been properly thought out and there were holes in both the wooden dialogue and plot - how do two people go shopping together for an entire afternoon without ever exchanging names?

One of the most thought-provoking lines within 'Shakespeare Unbound' was that the master craftsman created his sparkling, timeless speeches by immersing himself completely in his characters. It couldn't be said the same of 'The Lover and the Wife', despite an all-round brilliant performance by Kim Tilbury in the role of the lover. Sadly enough, the four stars in this rating went entirely to the first production of the evening.

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The Broadway Studio's Romeo and Juliet is a good plain fringe production--in a small space, with limited resources--but it often does what it sets out to do rather well.

The backbone of this production is an engaging performance of Juliet by Rachel Winters, whose youthful appearance and small stature successfully suggest a childish innocence in early scenes--adrift in her new dress for the Capulet party--but beneath the surface is a steely determination, which becomes increasingly apparent as Juliet suffers and grows throughout the play. Karl Brown's Romeo, by contrast, remains the unworldly romantic--in love with love--his adolescent idealism battered but never entirely destroyed by tragic events. They seem an odd match, but from the touchingly staged moment of their first meeting--beginning with the tentative touch of their fingertips--they are convincingly swept away by their feelings.

Some of the supporting roles are more successful than others. William Salicath gives an authoritative performance in the limited role of the Prince, while James Law and Emma Tapley as the Capulets capture the conflicted pride that drives them to love and abuse their daughter. Ben Riddle's Mercutio does not steal his scenes, as some Mercutios can--which is not entirely a bad thing--and Sophie Doherty's middle aged Nurse could be more strongly characterised.

The staging is simple, but often effective. Juliet's appearance at the small window, her face aglow, gives life to Romeo's lines about the East and Juliet as the sun. The Capulet party is evoked by a few strings of bunting and some fancy dress. The unfolding and wrapping of sheets gives a symbolic weight to Juliet's two wedding beds (one of which becomes her death bed), and the ominous reappearance of the murdered Tybalt and Mercutio as tragedy looms is cleverly done.

Overall this is an unpretentious, but affecting production. Well worth a visit.

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