CityLife

Watching Stars @ 24:7 Theatre Festival

THEY met in a night club earlier in the evening. Now they're on a bench overlooking the city, exploring each other's past history, circling around the subject of sex. They're apparently two people with no clear idea of where their lives are going.

Until this point Kate Gilbert's script is a minutely-observed slice of a close encounter of the human kind but then there's a surprise wallop of a plot shift.

Although ultimately too contrived to ring true, there is some fine writing here, as well as detailed and subtle direction from Wyllie Longmore and two in-depth performances from Nick Mason and Claire Disley. You'll be arguing about it all the way home.

Watching Stars is on at Blue at Pure, Printworks until Saturday, July 27. Performance schedule: July 21, 9pm; 23, 12.30; 24, 7.30; 25, 6pm; 26; 12.30. Click here for more information.