Marina Centre, Lowestoft

They say laughter is the best medicine and we got it in huge doses at the Marina Theatre in the first performance of Brandon Thomas's classic farce, Charley's Aunt.

The Bruce James production had the audience laughing from start to finish.

Set in 1892, two Oxford undergraduates - Charley Wykeham (Ellis Kerkhoven) and Jack Chesney (Benjamin Roddy) - arrange to meet their lady loves in the company of Charley's Brazilian aunt, Donna Lucia. But when her visit is postponed they are forced to find a substitute and force their best friend, Lord Fancourt Babberley, to impersonate her with hilarious results.

Damian Williams, as Babbs, conveys the enjoyment, frustration and panic of his predicament, which is only resolved when the real aunt turns up, with an expressive, comic face. His performance is helped along by misbehaving props and quick fire ad-libs.

When the girls' guardian, Stephen Spettigue, played with relish by Eric Potts of Coronation Street fame, turns up the fat is in the fire. A strong cast, energetic acting that extracted the maximum humour from this classic farce. Good medicine indeed.