NOEL COWARD'S comedy shows how novelist Charles Condomine (ALEX SCOTCHBROOK) is repaid for hiring a medium just to research his next pot boiler with the return of his deceased first wife Elvira (HAYLEY BASKERVILLE making a striking début).

While this production maintains Theatre Group's high standards, in this case including some clever stage effects (Technical Directors DAVID SCHULT and DAN BARR lead an effects team too numerous to mention here), the timing and movement seems a tad inelegant at times, some lines perhaps a little too rushed, one example being second wife Ruth's crushing response to Charles' question "Anything interesting in the Times?". ANNA WILLIAMS seems capable of a vulnerable delicacy which could add depth to this role.

However, on their second performance Directors THEODORA DARLINGTON and ROB MCCOUGH'S cast coped extremely well with an unavoidable backstage crisis. And, as that eccentric medium Madame Arcati, KAE YEBOAH is really spellbindingly amusing.