Rickitt leads a cast that includes Charlie Brooks (the scheming Janine in “Eastenders”), Richard O'Callaghan (National Theatre, RSC and numerous West End appearances) and Mel Raido, who played Jesus in the controversial Corpus Christi, which was also staged at the Pleasance.

Office Games, which is written by Trevor Baxter, is set in the Foreign Office after the First World War, during the peace negotiations that produced the Treaty of Versailles. Office politics and the inevitable horseplay that hints at the sexuality under the starched collars — and breaks the crushing boredom of a class-bound civil service career — turn to something more dangerous when the office typist is blamed for a minor mistake. She hits back in a way that proves Kipling's assertion that “the female of the species is more deadly than the male.”

Produced by Bill Kenwright, Office Games evokes a time when honor and loyalty to the Empire were not only taken for granted but were vital for a successful career: when class distinctions were an everyday matter of fact — and it was career suicide to get involved with a woman from the typing pool.