On Theatre

Admitting a fondness for farce is social death. Eyes widen, jaws drop, hasty excuses are proffered and exits made. Praising the delirious first act of Don't Dress for Dinner or Sandra Dickinson's whiplash comic timing tends to induce sympathy, if not frank disapproval.

Critical disdain notwithstanding, the Almeida is reviving The Bed Before Yesterday. Originally produced in 1975, in repertory with The Seagull, it was the second production by Lindsay Anderson's sadly short-lived Lyric Theatre Company. For the master farceur Ben Travers, however, it was his twentieth play, his first for 23 years and the only one to be written free of the Lord Chamberlain's interference.

'One always had this terrible cramping feeling that you couldn't say something the censor wouldn't like. You were handicapped, not only in lines, but in the whole approach.'

The orginal production starred Helen Mirren - whose considerable comic skills are currently on display in A Month in the Country - and Joan Plowright in the central role of censorious Alma who makes a late discovery of the joys of sex. Nearly 20 years later, Brenda Blethyn above is in the lead. Is this going to be her breakthrough? How much longer can an actress of her stature remain one of the profession's best-kept secrets?