By Mark Young

This is the world premier of "Faust of the Colonnade" by David F. Cochrane. The flyer describes this challenging play for two actors as "An unnamed academic in an unknown place addresses a listener" boasting lines like "You ruined him first with awe and then with sex".

The sound of jazz music ushers us into the murky world of an Oxbridge Don, his desk littered with old Guardian newspapers, Penguin books and the odd jar of instant coffee. As Adderman hears his story we discover that one of his obsessions is collecting jigsaws and that he's accused of having transgressed the accepted relationship between the teacher and pupil.

This very intense play of just under an hour is very reminiscent of the works of Samuel Beckett but as the title suggests a pact lies at the heart of its plot and interestingly it chooses to portray the academic not as a privileged person but rather as a prisoner trapped in a room over looking the colonnade.

As the academic years pass the students come and go but the teacher remains. Don's diary reveals all his sexual fantasies of that fateful summer as well as his wounded pride when he's asked to take a new position.

We also eavesdrop on the evidence that leads him to be accused of "taking advantage of the boy" when it was all the fault of a foolish Don's wife. A packed house enjoyed this world premier which naturally appealed to an academic audience.

Henry Shevlin acquitted himself very well in the very demanding and exhausting role of Don while Peter Baranovski's accent certainly gave his inquisitorial role a sinister edge.