WHAT a pity that one of the liveliest musical comedy shows for some time at Bolton Little Theatre (BLT) isn't given a livelier title.

'Shakespeare Revue' just doesn't do full justice to the witty words and music being staged there this week.

Ten years ago a group of Royal Shakespeare Company folk got together to create a revue based on the bard. The show moved to London and was revised several times, with the team adding a few extra bits of their own.

But basically it's still the same show created by Christopher Luscombe with music by Malcolm McKee.

The end result is 36 miniature gems based on the words of the Elizabethan playwright. It's like an excellent movie that you really have to see twice to fully appreciate.

Even old Will himself would surely have enjoyed being sent up in song and verse by such famous names as Cole Porter, Alan Bennett, Victoria Wood, Frank Muir, Peter Cook and Ned Sherrin.

The sketches range from Frances Clemmitt's Box of Chocolates one during Hamlet, to the Frank Muir and Dennis Norden 1950s panto version of the same play 'Look Behind You Hamlet'.

And the second half was equally funny and well-paced, with Stephen Knowles and Frances Clemmitt showing what happens when Lady Macbeth gets mixed up with the Romeo.

The company did full justice to the Cole Porter/Noel Coward Shakespearian version of the song Let's Do It, before Eddie Williams sang Put Out The Light to complete a first-class performance.

Crisp direction by Michael Shipley and spot-on piano accompaniment by musical director Allan Wright, plus classy stage and costume presentation, were reminders of the theatrical skill we still have in town. So tape the TV soaps one evening and enjoy some Shakespeare with a difference -- as you like it.

Runs until March 1

Derrick Grocock