PLAYWRIGHT Neil LaBute is pretty clear in his theatrical aims: “Get people laughing, then make that laugh stick in their throats. If that doesn’t work immediately, kick them in the stomach.”

Where last night’s trilogy of one-act plays is concerned, it’s mission accomplished.

It opened with the British premier of The Furies – a meeting between a gay man and his younger lover who has brought his sister along for support. The initial awkwardness of witnessing the aftermath of an unseen fight is quickly replaced by humour as Jimmy becomes a ventriloquist’s dummy for his silent but deadly sibling. Then, a tragic revelation from his boyfriend (Patrick Driver) cuts across the audience’s laughter, turning it sour.

Another emotional gear change takes place when the previously wordless sister (Frances Grey) launches into a Vinny Jones-style monologue that is completely out of proportion, evoking the wrath of the avenging Furies – an act which turns her from menacing to ridiculous.

Ex-EastEnder Stuart Laing is transformed as the well-meaning but ultimately selfish younger man, adopting an American drawl and a facial tick. He changes into a New York financier for the second play, Land of the Dead, written by LaBute for a post-9/11 fundraiser.

A series of interlocking monologues charts a single morning in the lives of a couple – their own very personal tragedy overlapping with an event the whole world would mourn.

Finally, Helter Skelter portrays a married couple’s meeting in a restaurant after the wife has discovered her husband’s six-year affair with her sister.

All seven characters are too human to watch comfortably, and LaBute’s flair for the dramatic leaves you feeling emotionally assaulted.

LAURA DAVIS