ALSO PLAYING

The Confirmation Suit by Brendan Behan, (Bewley’s,

until June 3), a oneman stage adaptation by Peter Sheridan, has been developed and elongated without being improved and – surprisingly in an actor who has generally shown great comic timing – Gary Cooke’s hectic performance is lacking in the kind of nuance needed for good comedy. There’s still plenty of humour in the story but the niceties are almost drowned in the staging. Changes are inevitable in any work transferred to the stage but a lot of the changes here are too implausible to be either funny or credible. The charm of this kind of tale is in seeing it all through the eyes of a child but that simplicity is lost in the elaborate additions, piled on for the sake of unsubtle humour.