Black is the new black, as far as Tryst is concerned this year. The common denominator in its two new plays is definitely that sombre colour; one takes its inspiration from film noir of the 1940s while the other is a military black op.

Tryst have entered the two plays in the SCDA Falkirk District one-act play festival which runs in Grangemouth's Bowhouse Community Centre on February 17-18.

Playing first on the first night is Tryst "C" with the Scottish amateur premiere of Pugilist Specialist by acclaimed San Francisco writer Adriano Shaplin. Four highly-trained US marines are assigned the task of eliminating Saddam Hussein in a cold-blooded "black op". The award-winning and very topical play - described as "an ice-cold, razor-sharp adventure in contemporary theatre" and "a gripping, expletive-rich dramatisation of US foreign policy" - is about the oddball assassins planning and implementing the top-secret mission. But who's pulling the strings? Alan Clark directs. Warning: this play contains fierce haircuts.

And Tryst also play first the following night with Sebastian by Douglas Skelton. It's a cliff-hanging dark whodunnit in the style of Raymond Chandler's detective novels which featured the iconic Philip Marlowe. Like a dark and grainy Hollywood "B" movie, the play follows the determined efforts of the hard-boiled, wisecracking private eye to solve a murder. Jim Allan directs Brian Tripney as Lou Sebastian plus a large cast of low-life dames, classy broads, crooks, hitmen and newspaper vendors. An authentic film noir soundtrack adds to the menacing atmosphere, as do some very smart hats, fur stoles and an ingenious set built by Booby de War and Peter Tripney.

Adjudicator for the festival is Russell Boyce and curtain up on both nights is at 7.00pm. Tickets are available at the door on both nights.