After seeing the opening night of the Studio Theatre Club's latest venture, I can heartily recommend it. This compact play by Ben Travers has all the hallmarks of a great farce: wordplay, witty one-liners, the occasional moment of slapstick, endless rounds of subterfuge and deception, and one or two mistaken identities. It is funny, silly, and thoroughly engaging.

The plot concerns Gerald and Clive Popkiss, cousins and visitors to the seaside town of Chumpton, where Gerald's formidable sister-in-law Gertrude and her browbeaten husband Harold reside. Matters get interesting when Rhoda Marley, a local girl much-maligned by Gertrude's gossiping, arrives at Rookery Nook late at night and dressed only in pyjamas. In order to avoid a scandal, the three of them, aided reluctantly by the unfortunate Harold, must keep the news from Gertrude, find Rhoda some suitable attire, and avoid her overbearing German step-father.

Such shows hinge on the standards of the cast, and Rory Morrison (Gerald), Calum Mitchell (Clive) and Victoria Maskell (Rhoda) put in sterling performances to keep the action zipping along nicely. The supporting cast, particularly Matthew Kirk as the hapless Harold, provide excellent and ever-increasing numbers of in-laws, housekeepers, Admirals and step-fathers to add to the chaos and confusion.

Performed in the picturesque setting of the Unicorn Theatre, Abingdon, and on until Saturday, I advise anyone interested in an evening of laughter and absurdity to go along.

The year is 1926. A young woman has arrived at a country house wearing nothing but pyjamas. Waiting in the wings are loud Germans, brusque Admirals, gossiping housekeepers, interfering in-laws, and louche cousins. It must be a farce.

Ben Travers's ‘Rookery Nook' is one of 12 farces originally produced at London's Aldwych Theatre in the 1920s and 30s, and I had the pleasure of attending a preview performance of the Studio Theatre Club's production.

The play centres on the attempts of newlywed Gerald Popkiss and his cousin Clive to prevent scandal brewing after Gerald innocently offers shelter to Rhoda Marley, a young woman thrown out by her cruel stepfather. The inevitable complications and misunderstandings are provided by, among others, a housekeeper in league with Gerald's scandal-mongering sister-in-law, the latter's timid husband, and a fierce, golfing Admiral. By the time the play ends, the cousins have dealt with two girls in bedrooms, a cat, a dog, a loofah, and, of course, the untimely appearance of Gerald's wife.

Farces such as ‘Rookery Nook' live or die by the successful evocation of a period in which the thought of young men and women simply being together under the same roof is unimaginably scandalous, and the STC's production does it to perfection. Rory Morrison (Gerald) and Calum Mitchell (Clive) are excellent as the much-put-upon Popkiss cousins, bumbling and blustering their way through the increasingly frantic goings-on. They are ably supported by the rest of the cast, particularly Victoria Maskell as the butter-wouldn't-melt-in-her-mouth Rhoda, and Matthew Kirk as an ineffectual and henpecked husband. Credit must also go to director Nigel Tait for marshalling the endless comings and goings, and ensuing comedy business, on the Unicorn Theatre's miniscule stage.

The STC's production of ‘Rookery Nook' is slick, fast, and very funny, and comes highly recommended.