The Magistrate

I was a bit worried at the start of this classic Edwardian farce. Steven Rae seemed to be the most unconvincing 14 year old I'd ever seen.

It turned out there was a good reason for this, Cis Farringdon's mother having told untruths during her courtship of her second husband, the magistrate, Aeneas Posket. The return of an old acquaintance from India threatens to expose the deception and the result is a spiral of misunderstandings that seems set to destroy their safe and respectable world.

Benjamin Twist's well-cast production is very funny, beautifully set and delightfully costumed. I particularly liked the disarray of the men's outfits after a very eventful night out.

Robin Harvey Edwards is a fine upstanding magistrate who soon becomes a disintegrating wreck after being led astray by his precocious stepson. The play's outstanding performance is by David Horne, every inch an old India hand who retains his dignity no matter what the circumstances.

Lorna McDevitt as the deceiving wife and Susan Coyle as her visiting sister twitter deliciously in their gorgeous costumes. Supporting the mayhem are a cast of comic policemen, conniving restaurateurs, venal servants and servile court officials.

The production lacks the last degree of madness that would give it the ultimate delirium of great farce. The nearest it gets to that at present is Robin Harvey Edwards' quite wonderful solo demonstration of Aeneas' escape from the police.

However, even without that delirium, it remains a splendidly funny and entertaining evening.