Philadelphia freedom

choice

Along with I was Mrs Danvers' Love Child, the hit of the Manchester Festival of Expressionist Drama, Jeff Banks Loves My Sister is one of the great titles of our time. In fact, this uproarious one-woman show used to be called Acing Sonia, but nobody could spell it and Ann Bryson is rather fond of a cheap joke. Millions of viewers are rather fond of Ann Bryson, famous for her role in Philadelphia. No, not the Tom Hanks movie, the commercials. For seven years, La Bryson has given her peerless portrayal of the extravagantly dim connoisseur of Philadelphia Cream Cheese. So she's the pretty blonde? No, the brunette. Rivalry is a theme picked up in her show, a runaway hit in Edinburgh last year, which deals with that other pillar of world drama, clothes. She spends the evening in a "hideous" bridesmaid's dress. "I'm not going to get a husband out of this one," remarks the star, ruefully. Her taller and prettier sister ("I tried to sue my parents") is flying in from New Zealand for the last performance. Bryson is praying that she doesn't leap on stage and stab her.

'Jeff Banks Loves My Sister', Hampstead Theatre until 3 Jun (0171-722 9301)