In The Meadow

Anthony and Grace are having a picnic, and it doesn't end well. In between there are betrayals, a nice white wine, and terror. It's a pretty good outing, for audiences, if not the characters.

The picnic is attended by uninvited guests. Not ants, or wasps, but an until now unspoken menace of the English countryside - mimes. What starts with a suspicion of theft quickly becomes darker, mimicry and parody giving way to something far less wholesome.

Chris Larkin has played both Henry VIII and Herman Goering, so a philanderer isn't too much of a stretch, nor his reactions to the situation. That they're well within his range doesn't make them unimpressive; it's a good bit of casting. Relative newcomer Tuppence Middleton (also in Skeletons) is good as Anthony's companion - "mistress" is such a loaded term. Then there are Sophie Hunter and Mark Duncan - she's played Anne Boleyn (albeit not opposite Larkin) and there's a dignity to her carriage; he (also aided by makeup) manages to straddle the line between comic and cruel.

From a gentle start In The Meadow gets very dark, very quickly. Even as events unfold in a shocking manner, it's the ending that grabs. It's well judged, well shot (as is the rest) and, well, horrific. Given what writer/director Dave Alexander Smith has managed in 12 minutes, it will be interesting to see what he could achieve with a bigger canvas.