Though it is perhaps unfair to base a review on the central section of a three-part production, if Part Two of Prodigal Theatre's Tragedian triptych can be used as a guide, the whole is a splendid accomplishment. Telling the story of the Shakespearean performer Edmund Keane, it demands a commitment to the exploration of acting as a craft, a profession and a concept – which Prodigal has accepted and realised.

The audience, directly and honestly addressed, are quickly gripped by charismatic storytelling, communicated using a fluid and deft physicality. It was the densely, beautifully written text, however, which made the deepest impression in this, apparently the most text-weighted part of the three; it is rare, in British 'alternative' theatre, to hear language explored so confidently and variously. Performed with assurance and directed with equal confidence, the piece perhaps lacked only playfulness, which could have brought more lightness to a great achievement.