A nostalgia-fest revisited

The nostalgia-fest that is Round The Horne... Revisited has proved such a hit that this new version was created especially for the festive period: just the thing for a bleak January evening.

When the 1960s radio show was first aired, it was required listening every Sunday afternoon, and sole surviving writer Brian Cooke has melded some of the best skits from those original scripts into two extended episodes.

The show is presented, as before, as a recording session in a lovingly recreated studio, complete with old-fashioned mics, a sound-effects man in his booth and applause signs. And although younger generations, faced with the show's anarchic, once-risqué wordplay, might find the devotion it inspired slightly bemusing, there are enough laughs to keep everyone happy.

This is mainly thanks to superb acting from all the cast, who manage spot-on impressions of all the comics involved - especially Robin Sebastian as an uncanny Kenneth Williams and Kate Brown as the indefatigable Betty Marsden, rattling through roles such as

Dame Celia Molestrangler and Lady Bea Counterblast with aplomb. They all look as though they're genuinely enjoying themselves as well.

And if any doubts were to remain, no one could fail to be won over by the infamous Jules and Sandy (Williams and Hugh Paddick, here played by Nigel Harrison) with their screamingly camp innuendo peppered with polari, the newly-trendy gay slang.

Until Jan 22, The Venue, 5 Leicester Place, off Leicester Square WC2, Mon to Sat 7.30pm, Wed and Sat mats 3pm, £15 to £25. Tel: 0870 899 3335. Tube: Leicester Square

Round The Horne...Revisited