Laura Wade's melancholy comedy stars Margot Leicester as Myra, a middle-class woman with six months to live. You can tell she's got six months to live because every time she reappears on stage, her hair is tied up a little more tightly.
You can tell she's middle-class because she has a house in Leamington Spa, a chartered surveyor husband (Michael Pennington), two daughters (Georgia Mackenzie and Anna Madeley), a cat named after a Tolkien character and a strong yen for a biodegradable coffin.
Once Myra has given a jolly Powerpoint presentation on her funeral plans, Colder than Here gets down to business, offering death as a cure for emotional reticence, sisterly discord - and even a moribund marital sex life.
The dialogue is frequently witty and mostly plausible - with the gruesome exception of a scene in which Mackenzie is obliged to explain her state of mind with an epic simile about walking upstairs with an armful of washing. And the performances are deftly done: Pennington makes smart work of a speech in which he explains his family's predicament to a call-centre worker on the end of the phone.
But the play itself, despite the presence of death, love and sex, is disappointingly weightless. Something better suited, perhaps, to an afternoon on Radio Four than a night out at the Soho Theatre - and listened to, quietly, at home.
Until 26 February. Information: 0870 429 6883.
Colder Than Here
