AS soon as the curtain came up at Malvern we were off quicker than a Champagne cork at one of Bertie Wooster's soirees.

And it was a lie told at a soiree which sees our blustering toff attempting to put on a play about an incident involving an antique silver cow creamer, an irate magistrate, a dictator and a cluster of characters all looking to throw a spanner in the works for poor Bertie.

Bertie Wooster (Robert Webb) of course plays himself and it is up to the much put upon Jeeves (Jason Thorpe) and Seppings (Christopher Ryan) to masterfully and energetically fill in all the other roles.

I don't want to spoil any of the surprises but the set design is ingenious - so clever, so well thought out, that you never knew what to expect next.

Safe to say, a lot of the visual gags came not only from the interactions between the trio but also the shifting around of set pieces, the use of props and just a look between characters.

The audience were not left out of the fun with a few asides cast in our direction (along with a policeman's hat).

PG Wodehouse's language and the script from The Goodale Brothers, the trio leaping and bounding around the stage under the direction of Sean Foley meant there were lots of laughs, not a few titters but proper big belly laughs, and outbreaks of applause constantly.

I admit I have never read any of the books nor watched the television show made famous by Stephen Fry and Hugh Laurie but I knew the general set up.

It didn't matter a jot, I was caught up in the action, swept up in the whirlwind performance which seemed to be in competition with the howling winds blowing a gale outside Malvern Theatres.

Webb charmed the audience, he is a master of slapstick, while Thorpe, as the stoic Jeeves, would have the audience in stitches with just a glance.

Ryan's Seppings was a tour-de-force running around the stage and it was hard to say if he was funniest as Roderick Spode or Aunt Dahlia but he played both with great gusto.

I noted that there were quite a few children at last night's show, an Easter treat perhaps, which was great to see and no doubt they found it as funny as us oldies.

A standing ovation came from parts of the audience while the rest were enthusiastic in their applause.

Possibly they were left too out of breath by the whistle-stop show to get on their feet but not as exhausted as Webb, Thorpe or Ryan, I bet.

Runs until Saturday, April 4. Tickets and performance times available by calling 01684 892277.