Treats - TNT
2nd April 2007
After all the media speculation, Billie Piper made it to opening night to give a creditable performance. Piper stars as translator Ann, who's just replaced her abusive, live-in boyfriend with the office bore, an accommodating mother's boy who makes the mistake of inviting her philandering ex round to dinner — even though he's just been given a bloody nose. Inspired by Ibsen's The Doll's House, Christopher Hampton's meticulously structured 1976 play paints a depressing picture of the way women choose their mates (and of the behaviour they are prepared to tolerate) without ever explaining their compliance. Laurence Fox's dithering Patrick and Kris Marshall's manipulative Dave convince at opposite ends of the macho spectrum, while Piper displays a touching vulnerability in this darkly comic, triangular drama with a very black heart indeed.
Louise Kingsley