A COMEDY so black it bordered on tragedy, Life x 3 certainly left the audience at Malvern Theatres plenty of food for thought.

Based around three alternative versions of the same disastrous dinner party, the play wove complex themes and concepts around bursts of domestic comedy. The general outline of the evening was the same in each case, but the outcome slightly different.

Although there were some very witty lines, with David Yelland's delivery of withering sarcasm and acerbic comments impeccable in the part of the obnoxious Hubert, there was just as much to make you wince as laugh. As the characters got more and more drunk, the veneer of politeness was stripped away, laying bare their real feelings towards each other.

Rather than turning the proceedings stale, the format of repeating the evening's events made for spellbinding dramatic irony at the start of each re-enactment. At the end, nothing was concluded, it was left to the audience to decide what had really happened, and to muse on the larger questions hinted at throughout.

Despite its one-and-a-quarter-hour length, the lack of set change and visual variety could have made the evening drag, but exemplary acting banished any boredom. Belinda Lang imported the world-weary comic timing of her character in 2.4 Children, Serena Evans was a perfect foil for Yelland's patronising wit as Ines, and David Haig convinced as the neurotic Henri. It runs until tomorrow (Saturday).

Jon di Paolo