A stopgap note to alert you all to a couple of independent (and unfunded) plays, both of which opened last night, both of which are well worth a squiz, and both of which I won't get a chance to review until at least the weekend. (Yes, that novel again...words, words, words, to quote the world's most famous existential crisis.)

Firstly, Harold Pinter's The Birthday Party has a return season at the St Kilda Army & Navy Club Memorial Hall, 88 Acland Street, St Kilda (enter via Albert Street). This is a poor theatre production featuring a good cast, including Adrian Mulraney and Bruce Kerr. I saw its last incarnation a month or so ago and was mighty impressed. It closes on May 27 and you can book on 0431 739 211. Secondly, that bunch of troopers Act-O-Matic are putting on Jane Bodie's Fourplay at the Cromwell Road Theatre in South Yarra. Bodie is a young Australian playwright now working in the UK who rewardingly works the domestic/naturalistic vein. She was last seen here at the MTC, and I think this rendition does her subtleties somewhat more justice. It finishes May 26 - bookings online here or phone 94298118. Go thither, warm with the glow of supporting some hard-working artists.