To bee or not to bee

And you just know that the ashes of the husband and father who haunts the whole action is going to meet with many mishaps. And they do.

But what do I know? It won a top award (they're always 'top' to hacks) voted for by audiences. And the press night punters at Northampton laughed uproariously and seemed genuinely moved by the gaudy splashes of magic realism which rather irritated me.

Enough carping, let the raving begin.

This new Royal & Derngate production, which runs until May 3, is deftly directed by Richard Beecham, a longtime friend of the playwright, and has terrific design and lighting by Ben Stones and David Holmes. All the technical stuff is beyond criticism.

I'll turn the raving up even higher for the fabulous cast.

Lesley Joseph is a widow coping with the tug between her attachments to her husband, her long-time lover and her brilliant but emotionally flawed son. She milks her moments of bitchy comedy and confused and conflicting emotions with awesome precision. Northampton-born, this is her first outing on the stage of her local theatre and she won't easily top this turn for audience enjoyment. A bravura performance.

Another legend of character comedy, Roger Sloman, as the lover, almost steals the show with his dances to swing band CDs and a drunken display of watering the lawn which starts with him unzipping his flies, know wot I mean, nudge, nudge. All very obvious stuff, but brilliantly executed and hugely enjoyable.

Another show-stopping moment comes from Penny Ryder, the widow Humble's bumbling friend, who turns saying grace into a totally hilarious hysterical soliloquy. Great.

Amy Marston has the most difficult job in the part that in the Hamlet scenario goes to Ophelia. She's the girl friend that the Humble astrophysicist son walked out on. She has the depth of character and quick wit to deal with the emotional minefield she has to traverse and her speech on the joys of parenthood was genuinely affecting. She comes over as the most together person of them all, a most attractive figure in every way and a beacon of sense in a crazy world.

And so to Felix, the half-addled and inadequate son. Played by Jeremy Swift, another face familiar from TV, his efforts to come to terms with his father's death are moving and his delivery of some of the play's sharpest one-liners exhibits spot-on timing. His psychologically-generated stutter was less convincing, I must say.

Simon Molloy is great as the gentle and urbane figure tending the garden throughout the action and chatting to Felix. He has a wonderfully relaxed presence and anyone who knows their Shakespeare will soon figure him out.

The show runs for 1hour and 50 minutes. www.royalandderngate.co.uk , box office on 01604 624811.