Grand Slam - TNT

Timed to coincide with the opening of Wimbledon, theatre critic Lloyd Evans' functional new comedy brings a neurotically superstitious female tennis player and a rough East End bodyguard into a game, set and match situation. At the age of 29, unseeded, Monaco-based British Madeleine has finally scraped into the tournament on a wild card. She's rented a house in Wimbledon, along with the temporary services of minder Cedric. He turns out to be a bouncer with a criminal record; she (less credibly) has a trainer who's only contactable by phone, survives on a dolphin's diet, and surreptitiously helps herself to Cedric's unhealthy fags, booze and hamburgers in spite of what's at stake.
Constructed in a series of short (but not always sharp) scenes, the exchanges between them have something of the rhythm of a tennis match, each one vying for the upper hand as, against the odds, she gets closer and closer to the final. But although Rachel Pickup's rich, ritual obsessed Madeleine and Sam Spruell's law-bending Cedric do what they can to keep the ball in the air, this old-fashioned two-hander won't win any trophies.
Kings Head Theatre, Upper Street, NI (0870-890 0149). Until July 26. £20- £25 (concessions available)