The lunchtime slot in Bewley's houses an intriguing study of a man in full flight from life, and of the circumstances that drove him to such abjection. In a classic scenario, he was smothered by a mother who cosseted and isolated him until his late teens. When he was launched upon the real world, it was for him as strange and barren as a moonscape.

He tells his increasingly macabre story, the zenith of which is a bizarre feud with a senior in the kitchen in which he does menial work. It explodes into sadism and violence in which he is deliberately locked into an oven, and retaliates with a savage revenge. And yet something in his awful incarceration sends him a signal, a pointer to a state of safety; and his world shrinks again.

Conversations with a Cup- board Man is played by David Pearse, the young actor whose recent performance in The Hunt for Red Willie revealed a comic flair that deservedly brought him a nomination for the Irish Times/ ESB award as best supporting actor of 2000. Here he displays a different side to his talent in a composed and convincing portrayal of a derailed, quietly manic life, a fine performance nicely tuned by director Karl Shiels.

Runs until March 16th daily at 1.10 p.m.; to book telephone 086-8784001