THIS forties version of Noel's House Party sparkles with wit but ultimately fails to shine, particularly during Act One.

So long is the scene introducing the life of performer Gary Essendine (Richard Pocock) - which is allegedly a thinly disguised Coward autobiography - that ice creams were being sold and some had departed to the bar as the curtain came up for scene two. Sitting resplendent on a dark red leather sofa, Pocock could have added to his impressive mastery of the Coward ego by berating these scenes of confusion, but an air of farcical seat-re-finding did little harm.

The dated humour of Essendine's irresistible attraction to women - particularly where Coward was concerned - does still allow some waspish one-liners for his secretary Monica Reed (the excellent Sonia Beck) and long-suffering ex-wife Liz (Samantha Hughes).

Like any clipped-accented comedy of phone calls, doorbells and frustrated passions, the ten-strong cast requires careful marshalling to avoid a lot of sitting around with nothing to do. The second half spice is that the predatory wife of Gary's best friend and financial backer, Joanne Lyppiatt (a strong performance from Sally Ann Matthews), wants to become a permanent fixture with Gary. There are gleeful moments of pomp and circumstance as Joanna meets her Waterloo, with Pocock still finding time to titivate his hair between bouts of hysteria.

Summer season director Ian Dickens brings down the curtain on this four-play month with the news that next year's seventh season is likely to include Private Lives.

* Runs until Saturday. Box Office: (01325) 486555.

Published: 07/07/2005