In a San Francisco apartment, a talented but unsuccessful artist struggles to complete the piece of work which would finally win him a residency at the museum and be his breakthrough into the big time. The stakes could not be higher and emotions are overheating. Fortunately, or so it seems, Hunter can rely on his room-mate Brenn to provide support in the shape of donuts and soothing words. Brenn is a cultured, rather effete European creature who writes scathing reviews of art exhibitions. He has a refined critical eye and an appreciation of art that goes back centuries; he is just the kind of friend and mentor that Hunter needs.
But it turns out that Brenn is more than a just a sympathetic room-mate. Hunter was a troubled child facing an impossible task set by his father when Brenn first appeared. Brenn agreed to finish the job for him, but only after the child had signed a contract in blood. Since then, they have been inseparable.
But when did Hunter first realise that Brenn was a fire-breathing dragon? What was the exact nature of the deal, and would there ever be a way to break free from it?
In this powerful and absorbing one-man drama, actor-writer Kevin Rolston brings three complete and distinct characters to life - the artist, racked with self-doubt, the dragon, supremely self-assured, and the rival, consumed by self-obsession. It is this last character, the fascinating and appalling Gandy, in whom the actor exults in a truly bravura performance; what, we wonder, will be the end of his story?
As the deadline comes ever closer for the submission of the artist's defining work - a self-portrait - will the creative fire that drives him forge his finest achievement or turn back upon itself and sweep everything away? Or what if that fire should ever be completely extinguished? What then?
5-29 August (not 15), 8.30pm, £6.50-£10.50