Marlon Brando's Corset' = SKINNYFEST 2

The medical drama has never been much of an art form. 'Marlon Brando's corset' makes no bones about it. Staged on the set of 'Healing Hands', the play deals with the complex lives of four soap-stars and Nick (Les Dennis) - the tortured writer who crafts their characters, and loathes himself for it. Angry at the hollow creation he's a part of, and in debt to some mobster-types, he writes an exposé on the show's heartthrob, Will (Jeremy Edwards), informing the nation of his homosexuality. Incensed at this attempt to unmake him, Will murders Nick and hides the body, with the help of the 'Healing Hands' cast.

To put it like an affable midwife, Guy Jones' script is a tad silly. Will's shift from pretty prima donna to murderous villain, and the cast's willingness to cover his tracks is absurd. It's as if Frank Spencer, after a three-day bender with the boys from the ironmongery, gouged Betty in the gut and stuck her in the yard.

The self-reference is nauseating. Edwards, the one-time star of 'Holby City' plays a pleasant nurse, whilst Dennis soliloquies on the evils of 'Big Brother' - 'I should have won, not that smarmy Mark Owen...' he's probably thinking. At its best, this is a play about the loathsome cult of celebrity. With Les Dennis as spokesman... Oh, and Jeremy Edwards.