Frances Poet's drama is the second Bristol Tobacco Company co-production for A Play, A Pie and A Pint this season.
In it, Gareth Glen's journalist, Adam, is suffering from a crisis of conscience, manifested as mania and fear that the devil is following him, and related to the fact that his girlfriend, Christina (Molly Taylor), is dying of cancer.
That Christina is dying isn't news to Adam, of course. The couple met at a spiritualist meeting, which is where the crisis of conscience comes in.
He was there under false pretences trying to sniff out a story, and the pair ended up being paired in prayer for each other and falling in love.
The fact their meeting was based on deceit is now eating away at him, and in desperation he feels compelled to seek out some spiritual guidance of his own from Benny Young's vicar, who delivers profundities on life, death and faith in equal measure throughout the show.
The cast, in evening dress, take it in turns to deliver a series of interweaving monologues before three microphones, so essentially Faith Fall is a radio play into which director Graham McLaren does his best to inject some stylistic flair.
The character of Adam brings to mind the troubled individuals of Knut Hamsun's Hunger or Gogol's Diary of A Madman, and Poet's script has some nice touches to it, especially when dealing with denial.
But it comes across as over-convoluted at times, and the gallows humour in the show doesn't always hit the mark. That said, the three-strong cast all turn in fine performances that are gripping and emotionally engaging.
Sponsored by Heineken.
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