My mate Kendall - formally of Iowa now happily relocated to Miami - is here this week for his annual London visit to soak up as much culture as he can! This afternoon I meeched 90 minutes off work to see the matinee of Mark Ravenhill's new play THE CUT at the Donmar.

In an un-named country, Paul, a civil servant, is interviewing a man in hospital-style pyjamas. He is about to administer The Cut, a painful operation without drugs which appears to be used on possibly dissidents or members of the lower orders as a sort of lobotomy but he first must make sure all the correct paperwork is filled out as the new ruling party prefer things to be done by the book not like the old regime - which one presumes he was also a member of - who used a more stark procedure. He is taken aback when the man says he is more than willing to undergo The Cut as it's seen by his people as a rite-of-passage and also a way of happily disconnecting from the troubles of living in an unequal society. Paul confides that he is disenchanted with his work, having to keep what he does secret from his family and wanting nothing more than the peace that The Cut can itself deliver,even going so far as trying to pursuade the man to kill him. The man refuses and demands The Cut which Paul administers.

Later that night he and his wife Susan, while waiting for their late-running dinner, start to argue. She presses him on his refusal to be specific about what he does and he counters by demanding to know why she refuses ot sleep with him anymore. Paul flies into an angry tirade against her and their absent son away at college who has written to her saying that he is involved in a movement to stop the ruling power's use of The Cut. She tells her husband that she agrees with her son and wants to become active in it's banning. Dinner is served and eaten in silence.

The final scene takes place in an empty cell, now it's Paul's turn to be a prisoner. He is visited by his son who is now part of the new ruling party. The son has come with the news that his father will be kept locked up and will not lose his life as Paul appears to have wanted to happen. When he demands to be punished for his crimes the son tells him that the new government are beyond such cruelties, which Paul laughs at and tells him that they too will one day use methods like The Cut. After an awkward embrace Paul is left in his solitary confinement. Blackout.

On reflection, the play was a little too Pinteresque for it's own good: constant threat of violence throughout and teasing, eliptical dialogue. Despite an excellent second act, the play left me feeling that it didn't quite hang together. However I was involved throughout by the excellent production by Michael Grandage who never let the tense mood of the play slacken and the two excellent central performances. I am not an admirer of Ian McKellen but his driven performance was the best I think I've seen him give and in the second act he was matched all the way by the always wonderful Deborah Findlay who gave such an excellent performance last year as the all-seeing housekeeper Poncia in The National Theatre's THE HOUSE OF BERNARDA ALBA.