Frat's Entertainment

None of the McGann brothers is identical. But that doesn't stop people getting confused over which one's which. Thankfully, when Joe, Mark and Stephen - three out of four of this Liverpudlian acting clan - sit down together, the differences are obvious. For a start, Joe, most well-known from sitcom The Upper Hand, is exhausted.

He's recovering from seven-days-a-week rehearsals for Tom, Dick And Harry, the new farce from master of the genre Ray Cooney and his son Michael.

From the moment they break from running through a scene, the frenetic energy of the Stephen and Mark double-act bowls you over. They are well-suited to a high-octane farce.

"The play came to us," says Mark, a one-time Olivier nominee for the title role in the musical Lennon. "I don't think it was written with us in mind but there aren't that many families of actors who would have done it. I can't see the Fiennes brothers doing this somehow."

"Maybe the Chuckle Brothers," quips youngest sibling Stephen, recognisable to fans of Emmerdale.

So did they fight off fourth brother Paul, the one-time Dr Who, for the three roles? "Paul was due to play all three parts," jokes Stephen. Paul, they agree, is not known for comedy. "It was a case of availability and aptitude," explains Mark. "This is a different kind of thing from "what's my motivation" psychological drama."

Tom, Dick And Harry begins as husband and wife Tom (Joe) and Linda (Hannah Waterman) are waiting for a lady from the adoption agency to give them the final once-over and let them adopt a child. But that's before Tom's hapless brothers Dick (Stephen) and Harry (Mark) arrive, setting off a chain of events involving illegal immigrants, smuggled cigarettes, curious coppers and body parts.

It is, as Mark says, "more Marx brothers than Feydeau," and as such, requires expert timing.

"I looked at the show when it ran with another cast last year," says Joe, "and I saw a farce that's as tight as a fish's arse under 50 fathoms."

"And that's rare," agrees Mark. "Even Stoppard and Pinter are still editing in the final weeks of rehearsal. Ray's worked this so hard that it's like an orchestral score."

Were they all immediately persuaded to take the roles?

"You always have to be persuaded," says Mark. "You have to read a script once and really like it, read it another time and not be sure, then read it a third time and know. There's more work in this than in anything I've had for a long time - even Shakespeare, because this goes at 100 miles per hour."

While all four brothers have worked together only twice in the last 25 years, reunions of Joe, Stephen and Mark occur "every seven or eight years". And though Mark asserts that "it's more about the play than it is about us," the producers must be banking on the filial bond as a key ingredient.