IN the first half of this century, Antonin Aitaud founded what was known as the Theatre of Cruelty, which focused on the body as the centre of sensation and meaning. The Bedrock Theatre Company has opened a three week celebration of his theories at the Project, beginning with a quartet of works called Fragments.

Samuel Beckett's world is indeed a cruel and bleak one, and the first play is his Catastrophe. A passive man stands on a plinth, on a stage in a theatre. A male director orders a female assistant to move his hands, adjust his clothes, seeking to mould him to the piece's title. He is slave victim whatever you will, and there is an eerie quality to the proceedings. Ronan Greely and Debbie Leeding are persuasive, but Ian Hutchinson's man looks much too robust.

Heiner Muller's Obituary opens with a husband finding his wife dead by suicide. In flashback we learn that she has tried many times, by knife, pills, rope and, finally, gas. He is a writer about death, and has apparently killed. It is an obscure piece lit with moments of lucidity, and with something of a macabre punch. Karl Sheils, Michelle Read and Shane Lynch give convincing performances.

Anna Ankle, by Mark O'Rowe, is a sic little piece about a phony film director who talks about art, but is making a snuff movie. Telegraphic descriptions of his sadistic acts and intentions fit the bill for cruelty, but not for serious theatre. Patrick Leech, directed by John O'Brien, delivers the monologue with control, but cannot redeem a script which quite lacks credibility and resonance.

Finally, it's Beckett again with What Where. A robed man speaks of solitude and the seasons. As he does, faces appear above him, gabbling about lies, torture and confession. Once again, the old master touches a nerve, drawing us into his world of shadows. Andrew Bennett, Tony Flynn, Mark D'Aughton and Robert Price bring the required disciplines to it.

An interesting evening of theatre, lasting some 90 minutes without interval.