Fanny and Faggot/Stacy - TNT

Presented as a double bill, these two short works are tenuously linked by the theme of young people's actions getting seriously out of control. Inspired by the real-life case of 10-year-old child murderer Mary Bell, Fanny and Faggot is itself in two parts. The first depicts her intense, manipulative relationship with 13-year-old Norma (who was also tried) and draws on transcripts from their trial in 1968. The second, set almost a decade later, sees Mary when she briefly escapes from open prison to experience her first kiss on a stolen weekend in Blackpool. Playwright Jack Thorne fails to maximise the potential of his unusual and troubling source material, but he does succeed in conveying the underlying strangeness of a young woman who, despite her past, just wants to be considered normal.
His Stacy is more impressive as, in a low-key monologue punctuated by illustrative slide projections, Ralph Little's Rob explains why he is pacing the floor in such an agitated manner after an out-of-the-blue shag with his best mate. It's a convincing performance and Thorne both shocks and amuses as his explicit tale unfolds. Trafalgar Studios (2), Whitehall, SW1 (0870-060 6632). £22.50 (£15 Mondays). Until October 27