Rosamund Pike is riveting in Inter Alia at the National Theatre

Talbot’s Harry is 18, shruggy and surly, and looks like a young Malcom McDowell. Pike, with the help of a series of yellow child’s anoraks and sometimes with a child actor, evokes his earlier selves. She powerfully captures the emotions that go with losing him at four in a playground, of wanting to protect him from pedophiles and bullies and mean girls, and with having the first “porn chat” with him at 12. Here, again, Miller combines ribald humour with a looming sense of menace. Having a boy is like having a ticking time bomb.