Patrick Walshe's new play, Venus With a Filthy Hangover, suffers from the learning pains of the tyro dramatist, the effect of which is summarised by saying that it simply doesn't work. A fatal impression is created that the author does not really understand either his own characters or the milieu in which he sets them.

At the play's centre is Diana, a middle-aged singer struggling to revive a career on the slide. It is her birthday, and a number of others - sister, agent, friends - have gathered to celebrate it. They drink, quarrel, play a prolonged party game and generally emote. There is little more to the plot than that.

The first half is mainly exposition, setting the scene and introducing the characters. In the second, the author/director shows his hand. The game sees some of the people taken over by a ghostly figure who prompts them in various guises. There is a stream-of-consciousness speech about the hardships of a lesbian; the agent is cast as Yoko Ono and made to seem exploitative of John Lennon; a Monroe incarnation relates a tragic story of gang rape at a Sinatra party.

The actors - notably Katrina Deegan, Jane Purcell, Rachel O'Shea and Paul Quinn - flesh out their sketchy roles as much as two dimensions allow. But the author has conceived them as vehicles for his words and conduits for his thoughts, not as individual and complete people.

This play lacks credibility.

Runs until tomorrow; booking at 01-6795720