The Pain and the Itch - TNT

Everything may seem perfect in Clay and career-woman Kelly's spacious minimalist home, but beneath the pristine surface lurk a lot of nasties — including a mysterious, avocado-nibbling intruder and the embarrassing genital rash which is plaguing their four year old daughter. She's the reason Matthew Macfadyen's househusband Clay has asked his cynical plastic surgeon brother (with his outrageously non-PC eastern European girlfriend in tow) to join them and their forgetfully dotty mother (excellent Amanda Boxer) for Thanksgiving. They despise each other, but he wants a private prescription to keep the embarrassing problem under wraps. But there's more moral hypocrisy than physical degeneration waiting to be exposed in this all-American household in which superficial liberal values have been smoothly applied like a mere topcoat, glossing over the bigotry beneath. Bruce Norris' intricately structured social satire scratches away the veneer of pretence with a sharp wit and ruthless honesty and Dominic Cooke's exceptionally well-acted production is slick, funny and irresistibly entertaining — in a very uncomfortable way.
Royal Court Theatre, Sloane Sq, SW1, 020-7565 5000. Until August 4

LOUISE KINGSLEY