Theatre review: Armadillo

It's hardly a fresh observation to say Americans have a uniquely odd, unhealthy relationship with guns; so it says something about Sarah Kosar's new play that she's found a new and disturbing twist on the subject. Armadillo follows three people in their late twenties who've grown up in families where firearms were seen as essential, to the point of fetishisation. For newly-married Sam (Michelle Fox) and John (Mark Quartley) the fetish has literally become sexual - they use loaded guns as foreplay, until an accident six months into their marriage leaves Sam with a gunshot wound in her arm. Realising that it's not just dangerous but an addiction, John comes up with a regime for them to give up having guns in the house. For a while they seem to be managing it, except for the fact that gunplay was so tied up in their love life that Sam can't have sex without it.

Theatre review: The Win Bin

A satire on arts funding cuts takes a surreal turn in Kate Kennedy and Sara Joyce's The Win Bin: There is now only enough cash for one person a year to get a job in the arts, and it's to be decided by a behind-closed-doors mix of interview day and talent show. After a series of preliminary rounds - which may or may not have involved Rock, Paper, Scissors - six finalists have been found, all played by Kennedy and Wilf Scolding. The three men and three women pair off after a while: A photographer's project documents his life after being dumped; it turns out the ex-girlfriend in question is another of the candidates, a highly-strung puppeteer. An unprepared but charming choreographer flirts with a comic book artist - but is he just trying to put her off? We don't see much of the third pair - whose talents appear to be taxidermy and "trying to put her whole fist into her mouth" - they cower nervously in a corner while the other four implode.