First Night This is blood- sucking fun but bites off more than it can chew

was going to avoid the obvious spoiler about John Donnelly's daftly entertaining play but it's described elsewhere as a "vampire comedy" and the programme is full of references to undead bloodsuckers.

- NICK CURTIS CHIEF THEATRE CRITIC

So yes, this is a fairly silly, comic-gothic drama about contemporary London vampires but also societal and psychological breakdown. It features a striking central performance from Sophie Melville as a young, overwhelmed mother of two. We first see waifish, high-strung Mia being threatened by a sodcasting thug on the Tube while she's carrying her baby daughter Isla.

Mia's sleep-deprived because her neighbours play drum 'n' bass all night and her shlubby techie husband Joe (Bryan Dick) works odd hours intercepting communications for the police, possibly linked to mutilated, decapitated bodies found in the Thames. When their young son Alfie bites another boy at school it prompts an explosive meeting between Mia and his teacher Ana (a silkily insinuating Laura Whitmore).