Set in the late 1940s it is a wartime comedy about mistaken identities which takes place in the Rev Lionel Toop's vicarage. The vicar is married to former actress Penelope who meets with the disapproval of frustrated spinster Miss Skilton.

But as the plot unfolded the talented cast brought out the comedy and I was laughing along with the rest of the audience. Helen Jeckells gives a superb performance as Miss Skilton and her timing is perfect. Kathryn Dimery is sufficiently over the top as the former actress and Harriet Usher gives a good performance as the scatty maid Ida.

But it is the men who dominate the story and Ian Swann is well cast as Rev Lionel Toop. Dale Weeks, best known to audiences as Simon Meredith in Emmerdale, is very funny as Penelope's old friend Lance Corporal Clive Winton. Michael Sharvell-Martin is suitably shocked as Penelope's uncle, The Bishop of Lax and Guy Siner almost repeats his role as Lieut Gruber in Allo Allo as the escaped German Prisoner. Company Manager Aaron Bixley has admirably stepped into Jeffrey Holland's shoes as the straight-laced locum vicar Rev Arthur Humphrey and it is unusual to see Emmerdale's Joe Sugden Frazer Hines in such a small role as Sergeant Towers but he carries it off with the finesse you expect from such an established actor.

The script is stronger in Act One and you did feel the second act had been padded out by the writer to add to the length of the play but the cast manage to keep up the comedy throughout.

This is a typical farce with all the requisite ingredients. The chase across the stage, the fainting characters and the various stages of undress. But director Ian Masters has managed to keep up the pace throughout and it is well worth a visit.

Amanda Wilkins

See how they run. Devonshire Park Theatre, Eastbourne. Until Saturday August 16.