CLAIRE Horsley makes a very polished directional debut with the Rowntree Players' production of The Importance Of Being Earnest.

This Oscar Wilde show is a little quirky too. If you have never experienced scene changes to the accompaniment of The Who's debut 1965 hit, I Can't Explain, or The Darkness's histrionic I Believe In A Thing Called Love, here is your chance.

And it works, more so because it contrasts with the old-fashioned precision of Steve Tearle's butler, Lane, as he orchestrates the transitions from study to garden to library.

A special round of applause must go to set designer Howard Ella, whose designs are both clever and fun. Rather than books, he has framed photos of book covers; the animal prints in Algernon Moncrieff's study spread from chaise longue to desk to door frames; and the garden plants, courtesy of Browns Nursery, in Wigginton, are a symmetrical delight.

Each design mirrors another: the chaise longue and sofa in the study are replaced by a similarly placed table and chairs in the garden. Windows and doors fly in from above for both the study and library. Such choreographed details surely would have impressed the dandy Oscar.

Horsley's very lively production has a witty, choreographed extended opening too, the terpsichorean Tearle turning Lane's cleaning and tea preparations into a camp ballet.

Wilde's high-society comedy of manners is played effervescently by Leon Thompson's Algernon, Luke Dunford's Jack Worthing, Laura Peterson's Gwendolen and 17-year-old Samantha Holmes' Cecily. Chris Higgins's Lady Bracknell resists going too far over the top; Graham Smith is a rather sweet Dr Chasuble; and Nancy Brookes plays Miss Prism very properly. Geoff Walker's crouching, shuffling butler, Merriman, maximises his long-suffering cameo, although his ad-lib upon one exit should be jettisoned.

On occasion, northern vowels slip in, but that is an easy fault to remedy.

The Importance Of Being Earnest, Rowntree Players, Joseph Rowntree Theatre, York, tonight and tomorrow at 7.30pm. Box office: 07927 026071, online at rowntreeplayers.co.uk or on the door.