A slick line in dialogue coupled with some biting social commentary, the Albatross 3rd & Main which premiered at the Emporium on Tuesday promises much but never quite lives up to its billing.

The cast each produce some fine character acting.

Geoff Aymer is compelling as the retired damaged boxer with a philosophical bent. Charlie Allen brings suitable menace to his role as a small time hoodlum.

Nicholas Boulton’s exasperated telephone conversation with a call centre trying to persuade a debt collection agency to stop pursuing him for his ex-wife’s debts is vintage.

Overall the sheer number of issues and themes makes the whole experience a little over loaded and difficult to follow. It is hard to see the connection between beautiful words of Coleridge’s poem The Rime Of The Ancient Mariner, the plight of the Red Indian and an archaic law preventing anyone being in possession of the carcass of a golden eagle.

But there you have it – perhaps that was the whole point.

Written and directed by Brighton playwright, Simon David Eden, the action takes place over a single and eventful day in a store in a backwater somewhere in Massachusetts.

The stage setting is simple and extremely effective.

Although the play may lack direction, the acting is compelling.

Two stars