If you can figure out the mind-boggling plot of Ciphers — join Mensa

Here’s a heartwarming tale from the London fringe. A company named Above the Stag was merrily plying its trade at a small pub attic in Victoria. Then in March 2012 a bulldozer squashed the pub flat. In its place rose a glittering steel tower full of geeks, screens, beeps and loot. Undeterred by demolition trucks and by dollar-gobbling speculators, Above the Stag began searching for a new arena. After a difficult year cadging empty spaces from nearby theatres, the company has now found a permanent home beneath a Vauxhall archway. Good news: London’s theatreland is expanding even when freeholders are literally whipping the land from under its feet. Above the Stag’s new offering is The Gay Naked Play by David Bell, a Broadway satirist, whose autobiographical notes are full of self-abusing boasts. ‘In his spare time David Bell enjoys humiliating cats, doppelgänger porn and Patti LuPone’s hubris.’ The play’s title hints at a full-on nudity festival but there’s surprisingly little pec-baring or buttock-disclosure here.