Kingdom of Earth ****

Initially a short story inspired by a chance meeting, embellished by personal experience and first staged in 1967, Tennessee Williams’ often comic melodrama gets a rare revival to mark the centenary of his birth.

The characters are quintessential Williams – Joseph Drake’s effeminate, tubercular, cross-dressing Lot returning to his Mississippi Delta farmhouse as the flood waters are rising, tarty Myrtle (Fiona Glascott) whom, tactically, he’s just married on a TV show, and his earthy, resentful half-brother Chicken (David Sturzaker), the “dark-complected” consequence of their father’s extramarital dalliance.

It doesn’t stand comparison with the best of his work, but Lucy Bailey’s well-acted production develops into a sexually charged game of cat-and-mouse as, with Lot slumped impotently on the levee of Ruth Sutcliffe’s treacherously silted design, Chicken plays dirty to secure his inheritance.

The Print Room, 34 Hereford Road, W2 5AJ (08444 77 1000) Tube: Notting Hill Gate Until 28th May (£16.00) the-print-room.org