ACTOR and MC Anthony Murphy has fulfilled a dream - proving himself to be Hereford's answer to Quentin Tarantino, directing 4Play theatre company in Ben Elton's Popcorn.

It's a clever piece of writing, dealing with the glamorising of violent crime in art and the media, and taking responsibility for one's actions.

4Play met the challenge of delivering the in-your-face message in a convincing, fully-charged production - with live visual feed adding to the drama, and fake blood squirting on cue.

It was a big ask for a small company to deal with a siege scenario in a Hollywood hotshot's luxury pad - and it worked.

The audience (noticeably youthful) lapped up the testosterone-charged confrontation, played out against a sexed-up soundtrack.

Steve Vaughan was convincing as the shimmering man of the moment, Bruce Delamitri, with Lucy Maslen as his desirable, desperate ex-wife.

Hats off to Sam Meehan and Leoni Linton, whose energy and magnetism as mall murderers, Wayne Hudson and Scout, was unfaltering - you couldn't help love them, which was not what you wanted.

It was a surprise to see Mina Nakamura as Playboy centrefold Brooke Daniels, having enjoyed her performance as Nurse Ratched, but she pulled it off - along with her pantyhose, in a seamless, syncopated seduction.

Spending much of Act 2 bleeding to death cannot have been easy and she showed her worth and commitment in, perhaps, the trickiest part.

The casting was superb, and the whoops of appreciation made it clear that this was 4-play at its finest.

Blood, guts and gore - no buts and no prisoners.

Julie Harries