Continuing its season of uncomfortable territory focusing on addiction-orientated productions, the Royal & Derngate has provided a debut platform for Northampton writer DC Moore to premiere his latest work, directed by Mike Bartlett and featuring Thomas Morrison in this one-man show.

Thomas Morrison in onest at Mailcoach, Northampton Photo: Alex Soulsby

Through Morrison’s character Dave, a young man working in a government department of dubious identity, we travel with him and through his eyes encounter people and situations about which he is only too ready to express his opinions. By virtue of his thoughts and comments, his life falls apart, aided and abetted by drink.

Dark, comic, very real, endearing in a subjective kind of way, Dave reels his audience in to the point where you feel you have actually been with him every step of the way.

It is without doubt a feat of a performance throughout its 45 minutes. Morrison is Dave from the moment he walks in to the moment he walks out.

Honest is staged in a pub next door to the theatre, making it an ideal setting for the play, perfectly relevant to its content and should making staging it round the country an inviting opportunity. However, without much re-writing, it is going to have a relatively short shelf-life, as much of the content and language is pertinent to the here and now.

It is still a remarkable piece of observational writing, engagingly portrayed. Catch it if you can.