DIRECT from the West End comes this Kenneth Williams extravaganza, with Robin Sebastian brilliantly recapturing the outrageous personality of the actor who introduced radio listeners to Julian and his friend Sandy, Rambling Sid Rumpo and countless Carry On characters.

Can there be anyone in the country who hasn’t heard the immortal line from Williams as Julius Caesar: “Infamy! Infamy!

They’ve all got it in for me!”

Milked to within an inch of its life, the line appears twice in this production, greeted with applause both times.

This nostalgic and thoroughly entertaining performance is presented as a live recording of Williams’ radio show, complete with announcer in evening dress, a row of lollipop microphones and a sound effects man in a brown BBC overall.

The writing team of Brian Cooke and Johnnie Mortimer give us gloriously politicallyincorrect sketches – the plantation owner is shocked to see his slaves turn up for work in a taxi: “What, you mean Uncle Tom’s cabbing?”. And my personal favourite from Williams’ war memoirs as a Desert Rat: “There’s a tent – let’s go and loiter within it.”

The dialogue is so rapid that if you’re laughing too hard at one line you’ll miss the next, and there’s not a swear word to be heard. Plenty of innuendo and double entendre, though, much of it extremely rude.

An evening of old-fashioned English wit with scant regard for sensitivity; perhaps the Civic will be inundated with letters of complaint. The rest of us will go along with Kenneth Williams’ exhortation to “go on – have a laugh!”

■ Until Saturday. Box office 01325-486555 and online darlingtonarts.co.uk

Sue Heath