The British Ambassador's Belly Dancer - TNT

Officials who fall from grace have to make a living somehow – and so do their partners. So while Craig Murray (the former ambassador to Uzbekistan who was removed for his outspoken comments about the use of torture) has written a book, his decades younger and far prettier other half is undulating seductively on stage and giving us more than a glimpse of what first caught the middle-aged, long-married diplomat's eye when he visited a Tashkent nightclub. Co-written with Alan Hescott and Murray (who is now her husband) Nadira Alieva's one woman show sets out to tell her story - from an impoverished childhood smuggling drugs for her out of work actor father, through a university education, to the discovery of the seductive power she had over men – and the more brutal force they could (and, twice, did) exert over her. It's strong material (though does it really add much to our understanding to know that Murray is into spanking?). But there's something so pert and coy about much of the performance that (despite her protestations that she wants to prove she's more than just a bimbo) it's with her scantily clad body that this former lap dancer still tries to win over her audience. Interesting none the less.
Arts Theatre, Great Newport St, WC2 (0844-847 1608) Until February 23. £15 - £12.50