The City - TNT

Martin Crimp's short new play is strange, very strange. It begins conventionally enough with a contemporary middleclass couple telling each other about their respective days over the evening meal.There's already tension in the air. Chris's job is unexpectedly at risk and translator Clair recounts a chance meeting with an author who told her he had been tortured and gave her the blank diary he intended for his young daughter. As the scenes progress and the seasons change, the marriage fractures further and the scenario becomes increasingly surreal. A twitchy, nervy neighbour (a nurse) comes to complain that their playful children are disturbing her daytime sleep and talks about her doctor husband's experience in an unspecified war-torn city. Chris, now unemployed, finds blood in his daughter's coat pocket. Crimp seems to be offering clues as to what is really going on in this deconstructed world but, as finally becomes apparent, nothing seems to be what it seems to be.Katie Mitchell's tantalising production conjures an atmosphere of disquieting, disjointed unease but (despite compelling performances from Benedict Cumberbatch as the progressively demoted Chris and Hattie Morahan as his distanced wife) Crimps writing also infuriates with its dreamlike, nightmarish echoes.
Royal Court Theatre, Sloane Square, SW1 (020-7565 5000). Until June 7. £25-£10