This Richard Harris comedy is loved by amateur companies, which so often have little problem with the set since the background of the action is the church hall where Mavis holds her tap dance classes.

Truthfully I have seen it performed better by amateurs than it is here by a professional team to celebrate the play's 25th anniversary.

Each member of the class has their own reason for turning up each week, which we discover as their rehearsals for a charity gala take place.

The comic brushstrokes are too broad: every character seems to be vying for attention so that the nuances which are in the script get swept away in a tidal wave of cartoonish portrayals.

Jessie Wallace (aka Kat Slater from EastEnders) is billed as the star turn but heaven knows why she's playing Sylvia. This woman is the butt of her own jokes about her size, like saying her partner needs scaffolding to scale the front of her, yet Wallace is remarkably petite with what appear to be padded boobs.

As a gum-chewing joker she does deliver the funny one-liners, competing for attention with Carrie Ellis as cynical Maxine and Susie Fenwick as unsympathetic snob and avid cleaner-upper Vera, who disappointingly never manages to excavate beneath the woman's veneer to expose the depth of sadness beneath.

Brian Capron as the token man dithers delightfully as Geoffrey and Wendy Mae Brown does come up smelling of roses as Rose since she has the most natural approach.

The rehearsal sequences have their amusing moments - silly hats and pratfalls included - and the big night performances when all those chaotic evenings pay off do leave you smiling.

Diana Eccleston

3 stars