Habeus Corpus, an Alan Bennett farce, performed at Sheringham Little Theatre as part of the EDP Festival of Comedy, is set in middle class Hove in the 1970s.

By JOHN SMART

Habeus Corpus, an Alan Bennett farce, performed at Sheringham Little Theatre as part of the EDP Festival of Comedy, is set in middle class Hove in the 1970s.

The outwardly respectable Wicksteed family are revealed as a teaming mass of dark sexual desires. Dr Arthur Wicksteed (well played by John Hodgkinson) is intent on pursuing his patients; his wife, the redoubtable Alison Bonnington, is following her own adulterous path and their 33 year-old daughter, Constance (Jenny Hodgkinson) is devoted to breast-enhancement in order to catch her man.

This is a comedy of words and verbal wit. Too often Stage Direct threw away the best lines.

Despite director David Bonnington's best efforts and some good acting, the pace of the action needed more variety; farce comes to life in moments of hectic confusion and here the pace was uniformly slow.