The lovely Theatre Royal at Bath was the setting for a packed matinée performance of Relatively Speaking.This was Alan Ayckbourn's first West End success, back in 1967. It features only four characters. This production by Lindsay Posner casts felicity Kendal as one of the four, so the audience was ready for a visual treat, and wanting to laugh.

The tawdry bedsit that featured in the opening scene was in shocking contrast to the plush red and gold of the auditorium. It looked uncomfortable, as sadly did the two actors on stage. Ginny (Kara Tointon) and Greg (Max Bennett) were getting dressed after a night in a single bed. She was due to catch a train to visit her parents. She was clearly more worldly wise than him. Her hair and dress spoke of a 1960's dollybird. Greg seemed more of a Private Pike. It was hard to see them as a couple and to believe she accepted him when he proposed during this scene. The acting appeared forced, especially when Greg had an angry outburst that was totally over the top for such a lightweight episode. This first scene was so deathly, I found myself looking for positives but only coming up with the authentic-looking damp patches on the wallpaper.

Ginny left for the station.Greg found the address she was going to and followed,wanting to take the chance to ask her father about marrying her. Their journey was very cleverly portrayed. The drop curtain was a pre M25 map of the home counties and their route lit-up as they progressed.

As it happened, Greg arrived before Ginny, and walked into a beautiful garden where we had just met the gentle Sheila (Felicity Kendal) and irascible husband Philip (Jonathan Coy) over a leisurely Sunday breakfast on the terrace. The house behind them spoke of opulence and confirmed that the damp patch in scene one had been put there by a skilled hand.

Of course, they were not Ginny's parents at all. Ginny was Philip's secretary, visiting to finish their affair despite the presence of the unsuspecting Sheila. The humour of the play lay in the series of misunderstandings that followed. The dialogue was not quite Coward ( though he said he found it "very, very funny") and only at one or two points rose near farce. Sometimes the misunderstandings went on too long.Oddly, in his first scene Philip too had a melodramatic burst of anger, so these may have been a product of the directing,The only actor who was really in her role was Felicity Kendal.She did not just rely on the dialogue but showed Sheila as vague, fluffy and thoroughly decent,

The audience had hoped to laugh and latched wildly onto each chance to do so, resulting in over-zealous roars at some points.I hope they were genuinely enjoying it, but for me this was a weak production.