Say what you like about artistic director Jeremy Raison but he's made a seamless transition from the regime of Giles Havergal, Philip Prowse and Robert David MacDonald that ended in 2003 after 33 years. His staging of Waugh's comedy recalls nothing so much as Havergal's adaptation of Graham Greene's Travels With My Aunt.
The similarity is not coincidental. This version of Waugh's novel was created by Mike Alfreds in 1982 for Shared Experience, a company for which Havergal later directed two adaptations before trying out the Greene novel in Glasgow in 1989.
What the treatments share is a deft approach to story-telling that leaves the actors unencumbered by the constraints of naturalism. They switch back and forth between third-person narration and first-person dialogue, use imaginary props, wear suits in the tropics and jump from character to character.
Using actors such as Anne Myatt who were stalwarts of the Havergal era, Raison also emulates the poise and flamboyance that has been so much a characteristic of this theatre. He is aided by Kenny Miller's gorgeous white-on-white set, cool and minimalist with its clear Perspex chairs and row of standard lamps. On the back wall, he illuminates the word "cruelty" in red neon: a perfect encapsulation of Waugh's juxtaposition of Belgravia decadence and emotional injury.
Lorna McDevitt captures the flighty superficiality of the errant wife Brenda Last, while Greg Powrie, as her cuckolded husband Tony, and Andrew Clark, as her lover John Beaver, play boring characters without themselves becoming boring.
It works a treat and it's just like the old days, but is it at the expense of Raison's own true voice?
· Until April 2. Box office: 0141-429 0022.
