NEW STAGES: REVIEWS Victor and the Ladies Tricycle Theatre

Victor and the Ladies

Tricycle Theatre

The sight of six women squabbling over the attentions of one low-down, no good, cheatin' male offers dubious pleasures, but certainly provoked plenty of laughter in the audience. In its determination to "shake the bastions of feminist good taste", McLeod's farce is uncomfortably close to the reactionary forms that have inspired it, and of course a situation like this offers plenty of comic one-liners. Rudolph Walker in the title role is so appealing, it's hard to disapprove whole-heartedly, and equally difficult not to sympathise with his ladies. Donna Croll is the only one of them who gives as good as she gets, and her performance is a horribly accurate study of female spite and jealousy; hilarious without being demeaning. The whole cast turns in convincingly characterful performances, and Paulette Randall's production makes a benign entertainment out of a potentially hot political potato.

Clare Bayley