If you're nosy and you know it, feel free to indulge in a spot of eavesdropping this weekend as drama unfolds at Red Roaster in Kemp Town.

Coffeehouse 2006 is a series of varied and fast-moving sketches written by a selection of local playwrights, played out by a cast pretending to be customers.

The audience, seated among the actors - who appear to be fellow customers, are privy to the action.

It's the second Coffeehouse production in two years from Brighton-based theatre company Caffe Inglese.

The original was described as "deft and daring" and "brilliantly entertaining and engaging in a way no conventional theatrical experience could be" by Julian Clary. The all new Coffeehouse 2006 is equally inspired.

The audience get to overhear snatches of conversation and sneak a peak into people's lives - old and new romances, reality show rejects, a rapping granny, talking cats, ghosts, alter egos, mistaken identities, desperate actors, murderers, adulterers and detectives in drag.

Director Linda Waller and producer Caroline Hume came up with the idea while chatting over coffee at their favourite cafe.

"We asked each writer to come up with a scene of about five minutes, with two or three characters, to take place in real time at a cafe table," says Linda.

"We knew it had to be a good story with a beginning, a middle and an end rather than just dropping in on a conversation halfway through.

"We've ended up with 16 weird and wonderful sketches which celebrate the wacky nature of Brighton, its characters and their various intrigues. It's a snapshot of Brighton life and culture.

"It's such a nice atmosphere in Red Roaster, cosy and intimate. You could sit there for hours and eavesdrop. It suits the concept of the show perfectly. It would never work in Starbucks."

Starts 8pm. Tickets cost £7. Call 01273 699733.