Fur Coat and No Knickers

St Philips AODS, The Melting Pot, St Philips Parochial Hall

Bridgeman Street, Bolton. Runs until tomorrow THIS familiar favourite from comedian Mike Harding never fails to delight, and last night was no exception.

The play has several things which will immediately appeal to Bolton audiences -- it is set in a Northern town, giving characters that comfortable familiarity, against a backdrop of the seventies.

Each character is colourful in his or her own distinct way, and the challenge is to find enough actors able to live up to this.

Thankfully, St Philips manage to do this.

Jean Foley is excellent as struggling mother, Edith Ollerenshawe.

Bert Halliday shines as her uncomfortably fascist husband Bert and Kathryn Henrys is perfect as daughter Dierdre, whose impending marriage is at the centre of the action.

Her drip of a husband-to-be is played well by Steven Kay.

However, star of the show had to be Ian Duckworth in the role as the cheeky Nip (George Albert), Edith's father.

He delivered the wealth of one-liners which came his way with aplomb.

The laughs centre around the marriage between Dierdre from the working class Ollerenshawe family to Mark, son of the self-made Ronald and his snobbish wife, Muriel.

In addition to the performances, mention must go to the backstage crew.

There are nine scenes needing a variety of different sets and the crew cope admirably.

The action begins in the Ollerenshawe's living room, which is the most impressive of the backdrops.

This disappears as a pub crawl ensues and the scenes are cleverly switched between two halves of the stage.

A great deal of effort has obviously been put into creating so many different backgrounds, each of which works well.

Lighting is slick as each character is put under the spotlight.

This is a straightforward, unpretentious comedy with plenty of laughs, making it a fun night out.

Beverly Greenberg