Dry Powder review, Hampstead

Where money's to be made, Jenny has no scruples even by the standards of private equity. The price is always worth the prize. Even if that means breaking your word, asset stripping a going concern, and sacking 600 people. We'll outsource the work to Bangladesh, she explains. That's still providing employment isn't it, it's just offshore! To business partner, Rick, Jenny's argument would make sense were it not for the fallout from his $1M engagement party in Bali. Featuring an elephant, the party was held on the same day the company closed down a US supermarket chain. The press are still on his back. There have been public protests. Now their investors are withdrawing funds - the Dry Powder the company needs to grow its capital.

At the heart of their arguments is a deal brought in by the third partner, Seth - a big luggage company at two-thirds value. Jenny hijacks the deal. She turns Seth's promise to maintain production in the US, on its head. She wants to reduce the workforce to six, and outsource everything. Jenny and Seth tear strips off each other. Meanwhile, Rick is approaching a dodgy Hong Kong businessman to help raise Dry Powder.  In the battle between sort-of-good and fairly-evil, who will win?

Should they, shouldn't they... That's pretty much the plot in Sara Burgess's biting drama. There are superb performances led by the brilliant Hayley Attwell as Jenny, Aidan McArdle as Rick, and Tom Riley as Seth.  Whether or not you enjoy Anna Ledwich's production of Dry Powder however, will depend on whether your heart can accommodate characters as wilfully amoral as Jenny or as woefully ambivalent as Seth. And then, of course, there's Jeff (Joseph Balderrama), the luggage company boss who's trying to have it all. Is Rick right to believe that Jeff too, will have his price?

In conclusion: The focus of Dry Powder is singular. It's an hour and 45 minutes of continuous pithy conversation. If investment isn't your thing, or you're binary on the ethics of the city fat cats, it may feel too much - another layer of an onion that's had you crying for years. I found it strangely compelling with well-rehearsed arguments wittily refreshed.

Hampstead Theatre, Eton Avenue, London NW3 3EU.  Run ends 3 March.