Dragging my sleep deprived brain back to Wednesday evening, I remember really enjoying Neil LaBute's This is How it Goes very much. Groping through the blur of three work and socialising packed days I'm not sure I'm going to be able to say anything particularly intelligent about why, but I'll try.

The first thing I should mention is that it was my first trip to the Kings Head Theatre which is behind the charming and characterful King's Head pub - although note that the loo's have charm of an entirely different sort. It gets additional Rev Stan points for treating the audience like proper grown ups and allowing them to take a drink into the theatre in a real glass.

Right the play.  It's narrated by Man (Tom Greaves) who is returning to the small town he grew up in. He has a long standing thing for Belinda (Gemma Atkinson) the school beauty and cheerleader who is now one half of a successful couple. Her husband Cody (Okezie Morro) was her childhood sweetheart, the school track star who also happened to be the one black kid in school. 

Man bumps into Belinda who vaguely remembers him from school and she offers to rent him the apartment her and her husband Cody have just built over their garage. Cody also vaguely remembers Man but as the story unfolds and they all get reacquainted, the picture of domestic bliss doesn't appear to be quite as it seems and old prejudices are reignited.

LaBute presents us with a narrator of dubious reliability making you question whether there is more than just a little duplicity going on. His script, in the hands of this able young cast, manages to juxstapose laughs with some tense and socially awkward moments as racism rears an ugly head. The cast also handle the American accents with aplomb.

I'd like to see it again and it gets a four star rating from me.

As ever all the professional and theatre blogger reviews are being aggregated as the appear over on www.upthewestend.com where of the three reviews in so far it's got a rating of 3/5