The Homecoming - TNT

While a pair of written-for-TV Pinter shorts is currently making its mark in the West End, his slightly later and more frequently revived black comedy from the mid '60s gets an atmospheric airing in the more intimate surroundings of the Almeida. Once again, a highly charged eroticism emerges as the eldest of three sons (now an academic based in the States) brings his wife, Ruth, back home to North London to meet the relatives. They're all still firmly rooted in their working class origins - one brother wants to be boxer, the other (Nigel Lindsay's quietly disconcerting Lenny) is a pimp. Meanwhile their father (Kenneth Cranham's red-faced, ex-butcher Max) blusters in grubby vest, cloth cap and cardie, heaping expletives on his adult offspring and veering erratically from sentimentality to explosive near-violence. But, ultimately, even their combined testosterone-fuelled misogyny proves no match for Jenny Jules' Ruth. Cool, detached and in total control, she discovers an unlikely fascination with their repellent lifestyle, and knows exactly how to play each member of this all-male household to achieve exactly what she wants. Almeida, Almeida St N1 (020-7359 4404). Until March 22. £29.50- £6.00