Theatre Dahling

Yer alright, we went to see play the other night. 'Pack of Lies', the (true) story of the innocuous couple across the road who turn out to be selling nuclear secrets to the Russians. The show was organised by Streetwise Fringe, who usually bring shows out from the UK. This one featured a local cast, and I have to say it was brilliant. What's more unusual is that this show was performed about five years ago by Dubai Drama Group, and several of the cast from that show were reprising their roles this time. In the original version, Geraldine Boyd was treading the boards for the first time, and obviously very nervous. This time around she was 'nervy', almost neurotic, which is exactly what the role demands. Alook Aima as the Scotland Yard geezer was more self-confident on this outing (not that he was a cringing thing previously). Eric Dury can act the pants off anybody anytime he chooses. The lady spy I thought was excellent - TotherArf thought she was too over-the-top. But really, the player of the match goes to Merryl Turner (aged eight-and-a-half, last time we spoke, but probably going on 17 now), who played the daughter of the couple across the road. Absolutely outstanding.

The only blot on the evening, for me, was that I thought I was going to see a different show. In my tiny little addled mind I had got it confused with 'Night Watch', a show in which my darling wife played an insane housewife. I only ever got to see the first half of that show, because our favourite son was being baby-sat and managed to stab himself so badly with a toothpick that I had to do a tour of several Dubai hospitals to see that he was ok - by the time I found the hospital that he'd actually been at (where they had put some Dettol and a plaster on the wound before sending him home with the baby-sitter), the show was over.