Macbeth False Memory Lyric Studio, Hammersmith **

Back in 1937 James Thurber wrote The Macbeth Murder Mystery, proving that Lady Macbeth's father killed the king. I just wish Deborah Levy's "21st-century thriller", presented in multi-media form by the touring ATC, had a tenth of the wit and style of Thurber's parodic whodunit.

Levy's aim is to use our vague memories of Macbeth to create a brand new work, but what she comes up with never grips or excites. We see, on film, a stolid businessman called Bennet dining with and then stabbing a bisexual Italian named Lavelli. At home he is plagued by phone calls from Lavelli's suspicious elder daughter while Mrs Bennet talks to the dead Italian in her sleep. We wait, impatiently, for the gruesome confrontation between the vengeful daughter and the murderous suburbanites.

As a thriller this is daft: what kind of killer would answer a dead man's mobile and reveal his identity? Levy's attempts to give the story a philosophical underpinning make matters worse. The best one can say is that the film inserts in Nick Philippou's production are stylishly done and that the actors, led by Jonathan Lermit as the killer and Myriam Acharki as the avenging daughter, perform with commitment. But the total effect is of watching slow-cooking tripe.

At the Lyric Studio (020 8741 2311) till May 20 and then on tour.