Delicious tales of domestic anarchy

BLUE HEART Orange Tree, Richmond

THESE two one-act plays by Caryl Churchill are portraits of domestic anarchy, in which humdrum events mutate into a deliciously warped absurdity. Both sabotage their progress in interesting ways, and David Mercatali’s impressively crisp revival conveys their technical virtuosity. But it also revels in every opportunity for comedy, ensuring that pieces at risk of seeming chilly in fact have an unexpected warmth — albeit one edged with darkness.

In the first, Heart’s Desire, a family await their daughter’s return from Australia. The play is like a computer with a virus, repeatedly rebooting itself. There’s a growing animosity between Andy De La Tour’s hangdog Brian, who reveals a bizarre fantasy about eating his own limbs, and his wife Alice (Amelda Brown). Plagued by Brian’s fretful sister Maisie (Amanda Boxer), the couple also have to share their kitchen with a succession of unlikely visitors, including a cassowary.

In Blue Kettle, fortyish chancer Derek presents himself to several women as their long-lost son. While he negotiates the implications of his strange hobby, the words “blue” and “kettle” spread through the characters’ vocabulary. This sounds as though it might be baffling or tedious, but actually makes sense. As the infection worsens, until at last all communication fizzles out, the standout in an impeccably drilled cast is Alex Beckett. As Derek, he’s perfectly alive to the writing’s unusual mix of droll realism and loopy inventiveness.

Until November 19 (020 8940 3633, orangetreetheatre.co.uk)