RETURNING to the era of trenchcoats and trilbies seems hardly out of place when it's raining stair-rods outside and we have to make-believe that a retired top British tennis star (OK that is difficult) has decided to murder his wife.

Steven Pinder, familiar to all as maddish Max in Brookside, is on home turf as evil Tony Wendice who is determined to get his hands on his wife's £29,000 inheritance - remember it is 1954.

Joy Brook as wife Sheila Wendice and Richard Grieve as her lover Max Halliday act out a nervous and stilted plot-setter before they settle into character and Richard Walsh, as Captain Lesgate, is blackmailed by Tony into trying to kill Sheila. How to stop some members of the audience laughing nervously as half-strangled Sheila stabs Lesgate to death with scissors is something only Michael Howard's zero tolerance policy is likely to solve. As it is, Frederick Knott's famous play tends to offer wry smiles in the wrong places with younger observers amused by references to pressing the button A on a public phone, discussions about used £1 notes and the police being suspicious when Tony splashes out £60 on a wine bill.

Middle Ground Theatre Company director Michael Lunney appears on stage himself as Brummie-accented Inspector Hubbard who decides to try and save Sheila from the gallows at the 11th hour. He's slightly hampered by film shots of the street outside which tend to lower rather than raise the dramatic effect and sprightly jazz guitar musical links which are at odds with the sophisticated scenes inside a Maida Vale apartment. Thankfully, the excellent acting avoids the plot becoming Dial M For Moribund, but it's a play eclipsed by DNA dynamics elsewhere.

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

Published: 12/08/2004