JOKING Apart is a play about the problems a blissfully happy, successful and good-looking couple can cause for their friends.

Richard (David Leonard) and Anthea (Fiona Mollison) are an irritatingly happy, good-natured, fun-loving couple who have it all -- brilliant at business, nice home, nice children.

But their not-as-successful friends -- Richard's mediocre Finnish business partner Sven and his overweight wife Olive, their neighbours Hugh the Vicar and his edgy wife Louise, and bachelor Brian who has spent years pining away for Anthea -- find their happiness destructive as it makes them aware of what their own lives lack.

The action takes place in Richard and Anthea's garden over several years. The play was slow and slightly boring for the first couple of scenes -- it felt like watching people standing around talking about mundane, everyday events.

The second act was much better. It was funnier and there was a lot more drama as Richard and Anthea's friends became more competitive, more depressed or mad.

The acting was strong and there were quite a few laughs, especially from precise, former tennis champion Sven (Paul Raffield) and his adoring wife (Susie Blake). But the script was stagnant in places and it did seem dated -- Joking Apart was first performed in 1978.