Skilful and riveting: The Poltergeist at the Southwark Playhouse reviewed

Sasha is angry. He’s a gay artist on his way to his niece’s birthday party and he keeps popping codeine pills to get him through the dull ceremony ahead. His devoted boyfriend, Chet, hasn’t realised that Sasha’s drug habit is a full-blown addiction but Sasha is highly secretive.

He shows us two sides of his nature at once. Outside, he’s a friendly smiling uncle who dutifully attends family celebrations. Inside he’s spitting with rage at his brother’s cosy life and its trite domestic rituals. When he greets his pregnant sister-in-law he grins politely while fuming to himself: ‘There’s a billion family photos here. If I spat anywhere I’d hit one.’

From the garden he can hear two kiddies, Bluebell and Peaches, bouncing on a trampoline. ‘The noise is making my teeth crumble.’ Out comes the cake with the candles aflame. ‘Everyone is smiling and singing “Happy Birthday”,’ he rages. ‘Jesus! There’s never a maniac with a machine-gun when you need one.’