The Paper Birds - Thirsty Pleasance Courtyard 16 August

I found myself in the same audience as Paul Morley, the Newsnight Review bod, who it seems didn't rave about this show and I'm not about to either. In many ways, it is a strong piece with a great small-scale set and accomplished performers but the material was lacking. Inspired by comments, blogs and messages received by the company during their research period for the show, it explored why we drink. There must have been a wealth of strong stories, sad, sorry or funny tales about why some people cannot or choose not to press the "stop" button. Snippets of these came through in the graffiti on the walls of the set - three toilet cubicles, one housing the musician - but the path we were led down followed two friends, now living in different cities, one of whom goes for a heavy-drinking night out. We see good acting, good physical theatre and a lot of glasses of water being thrown down necks, fronts, clothes and over the floor as the piece hurtles towards a probably unhappy ending for one of the characters (we're not let into exactly what that is). And so...? There wasn't enough substance to make this feel a complete show, but the talents are there for next time. Charlie, Artery.