Harold Pinter’s The Dumb Waiter is a play that starts as if nothing is happening but racks up the tension over an enthralling hour before a dramatic twist at the end.

Ben (Sam Jolliffe) and Gus (Nick Rumsby) are two hit-men waiting for their next assignment in the spartan former basement kitchen of a Birmingham café.

For five minutes only a radio is heard before Ben tells Gus about a story in his newspaper. Gus hopes they will have time to watch Aston Villa, but Ben announces “They’re away!”

An envelope appears, containing red-tipped matches. Then the men point their guns at a creaking wooden hatch topped with a speaking tube.

Ben opens it to find an order for steak winched down from above. The device is a dumb waiter, a lift to send orders to the kitchen and meals to the café. Other orders follow - liver and onions, Greek dishes, bean sprouts, scampi.

The men become increasingly edgy. Gus wrestles with his conscience. He seems especially troubled by the killing of a woman.

Eventually Ben announces it is almost time to go and runs through their plan. Gus notices Ben has left out the part about Gus drawing his gun.

Gus goes through the door to get a glass of water. In his absence, Ben receives final instructions down the tube.

Suddenly the door bursts open, and Gus, minus waistcoat and with bloodied face, staggers across the room and falls backwards as Ben points his gun at his partner’s head. “No!” cries Gus, pleading for his life as the identity of their target is finally revealed.

An audience of around 150 watched this performance at The Harlington in Fleet. Jolliffe and Rumsby were convincing and assured in their respective roles. It was a great night for the two-year-old Get A Proper Job Theatre Company.

Paul Coates