The curtain has been restyled to represent a massive gift box, complete with a ribbon on top, but what lies inside it as Christopher Hampton's bleak, yet edgily funny three-hander, Treats, unfolds on the Malvern Theatres stage is anything but a box of delights for its characters.

Ann, played in her stage debut by Billie Piper, has decisively ended her relationship with the bullying but charismatic Dave (Kris Marshall) and moved Patrick (Laurence Fox), the office bore, in to her flat and her bed in his place.

But Dave doesn't do rejection and is determined to win her back, giving free rein to his cruelty in the attempt.

Two, as they say, is company and three a crowd, and in this exploration of destructive relationships, Ann ultimately has to make a decision because no triangle really is eternal.

Best-known for playing Rose Tyler, Doctor Who's companion, Billie Piper certainly proves her ability to inhabit a very different persona in Treats, and there were moments when the passion of her performance felt raw and real, offering a tantalising glimpse of what she can - and almost certainly will - do.

Whether it's the play itself - Ann's part, though pivotal, is less developed than Dave or Patrick's - or that her experience has so far been on the screen rather than the stage, but at other moments she seemed disconnected from both relationships, not quite sure where to put herself.