John doesn't want to use a mobile phone or a Dictaphone - he likens them to a dog's flea collar - but they come in handy as (somewhat clumsy) dramatic devices for his creator, playwright Ioanna Anderson. Alone in his B & B, this 30-year-old computer sales rep (Ciaran Kenny) records his painful thoughts and we eavesdrop.
He hasn't been home to his wife for three weeks and he hasn't been himself since his childhood friend, Joe, disappeared without trace. This is finely tuned writing, spare and understated, which is matched by Ciaran Kenny's sensitive performance, directed by Neil Jack with close attention to body language and inflection. The terrain of estrangement and unfinished grief is laid bare: here, as John says, "people are always unhappier than they seem".
Until Saturday, 9.15 p.m.
The Dublin Fringe Festival office is at 2 Temple Bar Square, and is open from Monday to Saturday, from 10 a.m. until 6 p.m. Book by phone on 1850 374643 or online at http:// www.fringefest.com and Hyperlink http://www.dkm.ie.events
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