WHAT a treat. One of my favourite actors, Sara Crowe, in a Noel Coward play – a riotous evening in prospect, and as always Sara doesn’t disappoint.

When Fallen Angels was first performed in 1925 it was considered by some to be “vile and obscene”, and it is true that, for its time, it is quite bold.

The plot concerns two lifelong friends, Julia and Jane, each married for 12 years and both feeling that the passion has faded in their respective relationship. They are thrown into an unladylike fluster when they discover that Maurice Duclos, with whom both had a premarital affair, is arriving for a visit.

In an early scene between Julia (Jenny Seagrove) and husband Fred (Tim Wallers) there’s an extraordinary exchange reminiscent of Michael Green’s Art of Coarse Acting, with Wallers giving Ms Seagrove her cue two or three times until she gets the line right.

I enjoyed Gillian McCafferty as Saunders, the Jeeves-style servant who speaks fluent French, plays the pianoforte and manages to keep a straight face throughout. Perhaps her lines could be delivered a little less forcibly, though.

The scene in which Julia and Jane dine together in Julia’s apartments in full evening dress, becoming progressively tipsier and more dishevelled, is deliciously comic and has the audience in fits of laughter.

Best bits are Jane (Sara Crowe) accusing Fred of being melodramatic as she throws herself back into her chair with hand on forehead, palm out.

Also the peerless Maurice (Philip Battley), demonstrating his Gallic charm and dental work to the two truculent English husbands. Priceless!

Sue Heath