Correspondence

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Showing in the intimate Pleasance Courtyard Two, and performed by just two actors on a set best described as economical, the most striking thing about Claire MacDonald's new play, Correspondence, is the air of confidence that the production exudes. Taking off from the well-worn idea of strangers on a train, it playfully riffs on bourgeois values, movement, place, lived experience and the imagined space.

In a way, this confidence is only to be expected. MacDonald is clearly an exceptionally inventive and original writer, and Correspondence arrives hotly tipped. The show's publicity references Edward Hopper, Alfred Hitchcock and French new wave cinema, comparisons which are further underlined by allusions throughout the play to the work of Godard, Buñuel and Jim Jarmusch.

Unfortunately, such allusions do tend to highlight Correspondence's limitations. Engaging as it is, MacDonald's play has none of the violence of Godard, the suspense of Hitchcock, or the silent eloquence of Hopper. What it does have, however, is a pair of immensely accomplished performers in Jeremy Killick and Stefanie Mueller.

You are unlikely to see two more assured actors this year. Killick's subtle, languid performance is an exercise in economy of movement and serves as the perfect counterpoint to the energy and charisma of Mueller – a counterpoint which helps draw out many of MacDonald's best ideas. Overall this is a highly ambitious play, and although it may never quite hit the heights it aspires to, Correspondence is definitely one to write home about.