Cild

Pity the cast of Cild - a supposed drama about a man whose past includes a relationship with an underage girl.

Joe has moved away, but not moved on, and when his new neighbour Alice takes a shine to him, it's only a matter of time before the truth comes out.

Curiously though, Joe doesn't seem to care very much. 'Why shouldn't children be sexually active?' he snipes back when attacked for taking advantage of a neglected 12-year-old neighbour. It's an astonishing line to throw carelessly into a play full of soap opera dialogue.

While first-time writers shouldn't be discouraged from tackling thorny issues, Nick Payne has clearly bitten off considerably more than he can chew here. Not only that, but there are also many gaping holes in the plot of this clumsily assembled piece.

How do Alice and her brother Gary find out about Joe's past, in the absence of any apparent criminal charge? How come Alice has a key to Joe's flat when they've barely made it to first base? Or is he just in the habit of leaving his front door open when entertaining volatile men he's just met?

Including an apparently autistic character in order to win some early laughs was an ill-judged move, and while it's a potentially interesting idea to contrast Joe's forbidden love with other dubious relationships, in the absence of subtlety or proper character development Cild is little more than a car crash of controversy. Avoid.