Ex-rated Peep is one for the girls

Peep (Bewleys, HHHHH), has two young women talking about a former ex they pretend not to care about but actually lust after. From a room opposite his they use binoculars to spy, through binoculars, on him and the parade of girls he brings to his apartment. They curse about him and his visiting women when they’re not cursing at each other. The theory is that when he’s finished with the other women, they’ll be back in favour. He never draws his curtains, which is convenient for the peepers and the plot. This is Hitchcock’s Rear Window without the tension or sense of guilt, but with low-level humour that, admittedly, some of the audience appreciated. In fact, it’s not particularly funny when you realise that these girls are essentially demeaning themselves in pursuit of a squalid, woman-abusing pornographer. And, mercifully, a dramatic development finally emerges, which brings a highly unlikely, but welcome, end to their drawnout squabbling and peeping. Alexandra Conlon and Emily Fox (above) do a snappy job on the quick-fire dialogue, but it dragged on far too long. Listening to two women talking endlessly about their exes, their excesses and their rivals is not much better on stage than in real life. Runs until March 10.