P.S. Your Cat is Dead -- Jabulani Theatre Company -- Princess Hotel -- Tonight, Friday, Saturday.

It could only happen in New York -- it's New Year's Eve, your girlfriend's chucked you, you've lost your job and you're visited by a bisexual burglar.

Oh, and your cat's dead.

That's the highly improbable -- yet strangely believable -- scenario for the Jabulani Theatre Company's latest excursion into comedy theatre's very own Twilight Zone.

And the tiny cast of four carried their roles well -- no mean feat, especially for the two main characters who were virtually never off stage.

But the undoubted star of the show was the cheerfully amoral Vito -- New York wise guy, would-be burglar and utterly convincing stage presence, Phillip Jones.

And I'm sure it ain't easy to maintain a steady stream of wisecracks while tied -- naked from the waist down -- to a kitchen worktop.

It's difficult to review the show without giving away the plot -- but suffice to say out-of-work actor Jimmy's problems are manifold and worsening by the minute.

But his transition from WASP wimp to manic bully as he hits back with the no doubt considerable frustration he's got stored up is marvelously handled.

And the developing bond between Jimmy (Thomas Saunders) and Vito as they conspire to upgrade the latter's nice-but-wet image in the eyes of disillusioned girlfriend Kate (Lisa Young) has echoes of a slightly lavender-tinted and wholly 1990s Spencer Tracy and Katherine Hepburn-style relationship.

And the soul-baring under the influence of the demon weed manages at times to bring a touch of genuine pathos to the fast-paced fun.

The entire play is set in Jimmy's Greenwich Village loft-like apartment and the set design -- by Ian Record -- captures nicely the slightly raffish and down-at-heel domestic arrangements of a mid-30s bachelor.

First to put in an appearance is Vito -- not his first visit to Jimmy's oft-burgled apartment.

He panics and hides when the fiery Kate turns up to reclaim her belongings and is forced back into the closet, so to speak, when Jimmy himself comes home.

But Vito forgets his revolver (loaded with just one bullet, which is quite appropriate for someone who professes to hate violence) and is scared out of his latest hiding place under the bed as Jimmy first considers suicide and then indulges in a solitary game of cops and robbers.

Vito is already tied face-down to the worktop as the butt, almost literally, of Jimmy's grudges against the world, when Kate and straitlaced new boyfriend Fred, played with square-jawed bewilderment by Jonas Eddy, put in an appearance and re-evaluate Jimmy rather rapidly.

It must be said the exchanges between Kate and Jimmy lack the quickfire wit and timing of those between Jimmy and Vito -- although the two chaps do have all the best lines, which probably makes a difference.

Another minor criticism is the stage setting at the Princess -- it's not a theatre and the props sometimes get in the way of the action, although I suspect skilful direction and production minimised the limitations of the space.

But it's a ribald, near-to-the-bone romp through big city neuroses and as such, it's well done and well worth seeing.

RAYMOND HAINEY `CAT'S DEAD' cast members (from top) Thomas Saunders, Jonas Eddy, Lisa Young and Phillip Jones.