DISCARDED underwear clings to a ledge leading to the new Studio. Duvets, pillows, more underwear, crumpled newspapers, pile up as a debris diary of days passed by. Centre stage slumps a bed. Mugs are suspended from the ceiling. The back wall is covered, head to toe, with yet more sheets.

Had the over-exposed Tracey Emin, the It Girl of new British art, suddenly unleashed a stage version of her notorious, soiled My Bed exhibit?

Thankfully not. We could relax, sit back, and indeed, with all that bedding, it was tempting to lie down, particularly as there was space aplenty. Live Bed Show, part of the newly sexed-up Theatre Royal's autumn of theatrical Viagra, is an unfamiliar work by comparison with The Studio's opening show, John Godber's Happy Jack, and so it will take time to build an audience.

First performed on the Edinburgh Fringe in 1995, Live Bed Show comes from the adults-only imagination of Arthur Smith, hang-dog stand-up comedian, Radio 4 presenter and co-author of An Evening With Gary Lineker. As with the Lineker show, it is a study of relationships - the theme of all three two-handers in the Studio season - here played out as a Boy Meets Girl tale for the Over 30s.

It begins with an orgasm - a surprisingly early climax for a play, surely - as 30-something Londoners Maria (Lucy Chalkley, part Gabrielle Drake, part Joanna Lumley)) and Cash (John Kirk, very Cold Feet) mark their ninth year in bed.

What follows is a rude, frank yet soft-hearted exploration of modern, and yes post-modern, relationships, in which Smith blurs the margin between dream and reality and hops backwards and forwards between first date, Lanzarote holiday, new marriage, divorce and stymied marriage, in a fashion as random as the bedroom tip.

The main voice you hear through the dialogue is that of Smith, not literally of course, but as with Ben Elton's plays, the characters seem mouthpieces for a stand-up turned playwright. Smith can't resist a gag, whether or not it fits in with the flow of the drama, and Kirk and Chalkley have found this play the most troublesome to rehearse. However, their tender, sometimes playful, sometimes bruised performances win through.

Live Bed Show, The Studio, York Theatre Royal, in repertoire until November 3. Box office: 01904 623568.