Silhouette, Tyldesley Little Theatre. Until Saturday

COPING with the ingenious and proliferate plotting of Simon Brett's script is a challenge in itself, but the play's structure, which is at a tangent to the traditional thriller method, multiplies the task.

Director Jenny Orman and a talented cast use understatement and subtle stagecraft to ramp up the tension in a deeply satisfying work.

Set amidst the wreckage of a theatrical marriage and spiced up with the witterings of a highly efficient stalker, there is high comedy here that increases the murderous chills and allows the twist, when it comes, to cause a sharp intake of breath.

Kaye Taylor's Celia is the picture of slightly tarnished stardom, coping with cameo roles and a loveless marriage. Tony Thompson as her husband Martin is a magnificent, Mike Jeffries is once again superb, this time as DI Bruton.

Ian Taylor's stalker-cum-journalist Neville is a classic in a cracking winter warmer.

Nigel McFarlane