Love's A Luxury, Stephen Joseph Theatre, Scarborough, in summer repertoire until July 3.

It comes as no surprise to learn that the face of farce, Brian Rix, starred in the film version of Guy Paxton and Edward V Hoile's comedy of confusion, deception, frolics and romance. Like Marmite, you either savour this daft stage business or you wish its energy was never let out of the jar.

Even allowing for the east coast heat wave, the plentiful empty seats were testimony to farce being yesteryear's box office banker, but nevertheless, Sam Walters' production is a well-dressed museum piece, down to the gaudily checked jacket and hot mustard trousers of thespian star turn Bobby Bentley (Jason Baughan).

Bentley has accompanied dapper theatre producer Mr Charles Pentwick (Philip York) to the country retreat of Cranberry Cottage in the idyllic wilds of the West Country, where they are greeted by the blonde burst of bubbles that goes by the name of Molly Harris (Claudia Elmhirst).

The roving Bentley is instantly on the prowl, enchanted by this pretty parlour maid, who is in charge of hospitality in the absence of her more matronly mother. Pentwick, however, can ill afford another lissom distraction, because he is already in trouble with his wife after a big understanding over an early-morning episode with a young woman in London.

That young woman, Fritzy Villiers (Roisin Rae), turns up unexpectedly at the cottage in the hope of explaining away the incident. For reasons of farce, when introducing herself to the nosy neighbour of the piece, ex-scout master Mr Mole (Roger Sloman), she passes herself off as Mrs Pentwick.

The plot grows ever more convoluted, the misunderstandings pile up, as every new arrival - Charles's son, Dick (Patrick Myles), Mrs Pentwick (Emma Gregory) and finally Mrs Harris (Eliza Hunt) - spreads panic. There is the obligatory cross-dressing scenario too, this one requiring Bobby Bentley to pretend to be Mrs Harris, a task that Jason Baughan handles to the manner Baughan.

Christine Wall's costumes add to the pleasure of period detail, and Walters directs with a sense of fun, even if the comic chicanery is not matched by dazzling repartee. Elmhirst and Rae serve up feminine Fifties fizz, and Sloman steals the show as that classic English comic character, the eccentric loner whose every innocent involvement has dynamite consequences.

Four of the cast from this co-production between the Orange Tree, Richmond, and Stephen Joseph Theatre will stay on in Scarborough for Alan Ayckbourn's A Chorus Of Disapproval. That is testimony to the quality of a performance that exceeds Paxton and Hoile's B-grade play.

Love's A Luxury, Stephen Joseph Theatre, Scarborough, in summer repertoire until July 3. Box office: 01723 370541.

Updated: 09:09 Tuesday, June 08, 2004