Rain Man

This production of the Oscar winning film had the potential to become a schmaltzy tearjerker but the adaptation by Dan Gordon, directed by Robin Hereford, avoids these pitfalls and brings the story bang up to date.

Charlie Babbitt, a brash and broke car dealer, is excluded from his estranged father’s will, only to discover that the money has been left to a brother hidden in an institution. Charlie plots to get his share of his father’s fortune.

Oliver Chris, of Green Wing fame, gives a notable performance as Charlie Babbitt, a character whose opinions of his autistic brother and  relationships are dramatically altered as they hit the road to Las Vegas.

The humour in the adaptation is more developed than the film version and this lends itself perfectly to Oliver Chris and Neil Morrissey, who seem to have a natural, sparky wit and rapport.

Best known for comedy, Neil Morrissey instils this humour within Raymond without becoming trite: it instead adds to the character's development as for the first time he experiences the outside world.

Ultimately, and as anyone who has seen the film knows, this doesn’t have the happiest ending, but it is inevitable and realistic and pulling reality back is Charles Lawson as Dr Breuner taking the production full circle. [Nicole Hepburn]