Sondheim is notoriously difficult to perform well, but fortunately this ensemble knows how to set about it. The two singers, joined by an accomplished pianist, take us on a beguiling journey through Marry Me a Little’s many forms of unrequited love.

The action takes place in one, or possibly two, New York apartments, one Saturday night. The set is evidently divided (most conspicuously by the line of stitches between white and yellow halves of the blanket on the bed), but the couple come into just enough contact with each other to leave open the question as to whether there has been a moment of real intimacy, or whether they have merely dreamed the possibility of it.

The songs mirror this confusion, as they explore the varieties of love from the first shy glance across a corridor (one of the most beautifully performed numbers in the show), through the frenzy of the sexual act (Bang!), to the jaded couple striving to outplay each other on the golf course (and inadvertently murdering the odd low flying bird).

Of the two performers, Nikki Pocklington (Woman) is more secure vocally, and switches more easily from the satisfied lady of “Oh Boy, can that Boy Foxtrot” to the lonely girl waiting for her hero to appear. But Wayne Rogers (Man), although occasionally strained at the top of his range, has an impressive intensity, particularly when reflecting on love gone wrong yet again (“Happily Ever After”).

Just occasionally the emotional level could be more varied. There are moments in several of the songs which verge on hysteria, and if that were contrasted more strongly with the melancholy of much of the piece, it would make the latter more moving.

Yet this is a minor quibble. These performers can sing Sondheim’s tunes, and Sondheim’s songs are magnificently eloquent on the follies of love…just don’t go expecting a happy ending.

Finn Pollard