THE grass-covered stage is bare apart from a table and two chairs. A man, Harry, arrives and carefully re-arranges one of the chairs before sitting down.

A second smartly-dressed man with a cane, Jack, joins him. Later two boisterous woman, Marjorie and Kathleen, enter and engage in conversation with the men.

These two odd couples are interrupted by a third man, Alfred, who takes great enjoyment from lifting the table and chairs above his head.

Mostly, they just talk in a meandering sort of way about clouds, chrysanthemums, Christmas and Gloucester.

Nothing much happens in David Storey's play, which was first staged in 1970 with John Gielgud and Ralph Richardson. This is a piece about character and atmosphere.

Sean Holmes' revival for Oxford Stage Company - which premiered in York before touring - proceeds unhurriedly as we slowly realise that these are residents in what used to be called a mental home. They're not so much mad as eccentric, signalled by the little bits of oddness you being to notice in their conversation and behaviour.

The play is a dream for actors, with the cast seizing the opportunities offered to create detailed portraits of five characters in search of an identity. David Calder, Christopher Godwin, Sandra Voe, Geraldine James and David Hinton (as Alfred, a man of few words who speaks volumes with his body language) are all superb.

Published: 01/11/2004