I was lucky enough to go to a preview of the Studio Theatre Club's The Admirable Crichton, in advance of their run at the Unicorn Theatre this week. I have seen a number of STC productions in the past, and this play fits works to their strengths - humour, strong characters and doing a lot with a small stage!

The Admirable Crichton, written by JM Barrie (of Peter Pan fame), tells the story of the household of a Peer of the Realm, Lord Loam, at the beginning of the 20th century. Loam is a liberal, and every month forces the servants to come upstairs and be served by his family. Both his family, and the servants, hate this practice, and none more so than Crichton, the head butler. Crichton believes that it is only natural for there to be different classes, and that nature decides who goes where. However when they are shipwrecked on an isolated Island far from hope of rescue, then nature decides again who goes into what class - and it is far different from jolly old England.

The play is the perfect blend of straight gags and pointed satire, with a very strong cast to carry it all through. The play is characterised by the transformations of the characters - from meek to confident, from servant to leader, or from useless to useful, and the cast does a splendid job of showing these changes in a believable way. Daniel Booth, who plays Crichton, has the perfect manner for the proud servant and does a sterling job with the title role; Rosaline Galinska, who plays a lady's maid named Tweeny, and Elena Wright, who plays the daughter of Lord Loam (played wonderfully by Stephen Briggs), do a particularly great job of portraying the evolution of their characters. The only character who never changes, Ernest is a wonderfully comedic part deftly handled by Jamie Crowther. The smaller roles, no less important, are all convincingly carried by the cast, too numerous to list here!

The Admirable Crichton is a witty, fun and breezy play adeptly directed by Matthew Kirk. I must also honestly recommend, and this must be a first for a theatre review, the scene changes - I'll leave the reader to go and attend the play to see why!