THEATRE PICKS OF THE FORTNIGHT

Have-a-Go Hero

Alma Tavern, Bristol (26 - 29 July)

Writer Tim Massey notched up a notable success earlier in the year when his play Touchy Feely won the Southwest Scriptwriters annual competition.  A deliciously sarky comedy about a blind student plagued by patronising ultra-PC types when all he really wants is a shag, it got its first full production at the New Vic in May and on the strength of that, Tim's now earned a slot at Edinburgh Fringe for Have-a-Go Hero, a play he wrote four years ago and also developed through Southwest Scriptwriters.

'It's never been produced before,' he says, 'so when I was asked for a script for Edinburgh I practically threw this one across the pub at the director. It's similar in tone to Touchy Feely but it's a much nastier play.'

And thanks to a certain shotgun-toting Norfolk farmer, it's also remarkably topical. The central character, you see, is a self-made man who runs a security systems business. When he takes out a burglar with his baseball bat, he has to decide between calling the cops and doling out some instant justice Tony Martin-style.  It's all about the rights and wrongs of taking the law into your own hands and, if it's anything like Tim's other work, you can be sure that it won't leap to any easy conclusions.

Presenting the play both at Edinburgh - 13-19 Aug, Venue 45 - and during this pre-Fringe Bristol run are cpa@uwe, a company consisting of students from UWE and the Bristol Old Vic Theatre School.