THERE’S a lot of promise in Pippin Hal, a one-act play by new Liverpool writer Paul Williams.

The theme may not be a new one – a murdered man returning to earth as a guardian angel – but Williams gives it his own distinctive touch.

It opens with Benny add- ressing the audience and explaining how he needs to get his wings as a guardian angel.

The object of his protective care is his brother, known as Pippin Hal, a lad who has not done well at school and has plans to leave the Cherrywood estate and escape to the USA via London with his girlfriend Debs. Moving from scene to scene and backwards and forwards in time, we see Pippin’s unhappy school days, his growing desire to become a graphic artist and his slow-burning affair with school chum Debs.

As he plans his escape, dead Benny appears before him and places seeds of doubt in his mind about his decision to leave everything behind.

It’s all nicely put together and, in line with the fantasy of dead Benny’s appearance, the play is presented in a knowing theatrical way with scenes being announced from the stage.

With 10 characters and a cast of four, two of the actors have a lot to do. Tom Oulton plays Benny, a ticket seller, an eccentric pupil and real life moon walker Neil Armstrong, while Mary Fortune is a journalist, school teacher, mother and girl friend of Benny. Both acquit themselves well. In the central roles of Pippin Hal and Debs, Craig Sharkey and Kelly Forshaw make their characters sympathetic. Directed by Ellie Trevitt, Pippin Hal may have an awkward structure but manages to tell its story with compassion and some humour.

PIPPIN Hal is at the Actors Studio, 36, Seel Street on Wednesday, 7pm; Friday, 5.30pm and Saturday, 8.30pm.

Philip Key