The tale of a Russian civil servant during the time of Tsar Nicholas I is coming to Clapham.

The short story by Nikolai Gogol centres on Poprischin, an office clerk who believes himself to be a great man.

However, others do not agree. Frustrated by work and tortured by a growing obsession for his boss’s beautiful daughter, his profound and often absurd diary entries chronicle his descent into madness.

He becomes difficult at work and home. Poprischin's unravelling mind leads him to believe that talking, letter-writing dogs are conspiring against him and that he will be anointed on Clapham Common.

Gogol’s dark and comic short story is adapted for the stage and transported to present day London.

Diary of a Madman; Omnibus, Clapham Common; £12, £10 concs; October 28 to 30; 7.30pm; 020 7498 4699, omnibus-clapham.org.