For many of us, I suppose, the Saturday Lottery draw is like making love. You look forward to it all week and then it's over in 30 seconds.

That climactic half-minute, and more particularly the anticipation which precedes it, is the inspiration for a new play by the Bradford writer Jonathan Hall, which has its premiere this week at the Priestley Centre.

Rollover Dreaming is, by Hall's admission, a Godber-esque piece about a motley assortment of drinkers at a yellowing pub in Holme Wood.

Dana is having Paul's baby, despite his better judgement; Josie's man is in prison but there's comfort to be found in the arms of Baz the landlord; Mick and Tina are terminally tired of each other, and Shirley is plain lonely. The Lottery, then, is their escape.

Hall's characters are extremely well drawn, their stories interwoven most impressively. The performances, too, are exemplary; a masterpiece of ensemble casting by the Priestley Centre.

Rollover Dreaming is not a profound play; the characters' lives do not change manifestly within its 90 minutes. But it is an enjoyable and believable slice of life, and I can see it, if Hall chooses to take it there, becoming another success for him in Edinburgh come the summer.

David Behrens

Converted for the new archive on 30 June 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.