WHO controls a book: the author, the characters or you, dear reader? Such a question was a cornerstone of the cutting-edge English Literature degree course in my university youth.

The question bubbles up once more in Alan Ayckbourn's latest play, a joyful, playful piece of light comic stagecraft to celebrate the Stephen Joseph Theatre's 50th anniversary.

He returns to the outskirts of his imaginary small country town of Pendon, not far from Reading, to gather a "a bit of a lonely hearts' club" otherwise known as the Pendon Writers' Circle.

Avuncular, bow-tied chairman Arnold Hassock (John Branwell) is holding the pre-Christmas meeting in his well-worn hall, while shy young work colleague Ilsa (Laura Doddington) supplies tea and sympathy to his ailing mother.

The first half, slow moving by Ayckbourn's standards, introduces the disparate writers: grouchy, blunt farmer Jess (Becky Hindley), still trying to conjure the first words of her period romantic novel; demure children's writer Grace (Eileen Battye), yet to progress beyond painting illustrations; sci-fi boffin Clem (Giles New), tangled up with convoluted storytelling and prone to using the wrong word; vivacious, giggling Vivvi (Clare Swinburne), buoyantly busy on her fifth or is it sixth thriller; and curmudgeonly, ever dismissive teacher Brevis (Terence Booth), as troubled by his waterworks as the intricacies of his latest musical.

Never tongue-tied, these writers have more difficulty with controlling their words on the page, an affliction yet to affect Ayckbourn: Improbable Fiction is his 69th play. Here is humanity as the lab rat, Ayckbourn doing his middle-class man-watching with both empathy and delicious merry-making, and excelling in a nervous tea-pouring sequence by the outstanding Doddington that recalls vintage early Ayckbourn.

Suddenly thunder cracks its whip, and prompted by Arnold's challenge to club their ideas together, the writers and in turn their characters take over the play. Ayckbourn moves into the speeding, fantastical dimensions of his Christmas family shows, as stories in the style of each writer overlap, giving Ayckbourn the chance to send up Jane Austen, Dorothy L Sayers and The Matrix. All the while, Branwell's hangdog Arnold looks as befuddled as Les Dawson, stuck on the outside, but drawn into the mad vortex.

Ayckbourn has huge fun, both as writer and director, and his multi role-playing cast savours every twist and turn. Improbable Fiction is a hit: fact.

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Updated: 09:33 Thursday, June 02, 2005