Prague has recently been named the most popular overseas destination for British revellers at Christmas, so it was only a matter of time before John Godber chose to write a play about it.
Christmas Crackers promises the right ingredients - Holly and Kath are overworked A&E nurses heading off for a frenzy of shoe-shopping and cheap Czech beer on Wenceslas Square. But there's a downbeat feel to the opening scenes, in which we learn that Holly has been dumped and Kath's husband committed suicide the previous year. Nor does the trip get off to a promising start when the women find they are staying in the former headquarters of the secret police.
It's when they venture out on to the Charles Bridge at night that things begin to get extremely weird. Holly is instantly smitten by a blue-faced mime artist, while her friend experiences visions of her dead husband, before a security guard from the hospital unexpectedly turns up to deliver an eloquent introduction to the work of Franz Kafka.
It seems a long way from the world of Bouncers - yet, not so far at all. Godber's rollicking explorations of north-eastern nightlife have always been underpinned by an interest in European expressionism, and the jaunt to Prague provides the perfect excuse to unleash his modernist tendencies.
Perhaps this strange, phantasmagoric caprice wasn't quite the affirmative, festive entertainment the audience had in mind. But it's typical of most crackers that, once pulled, they don't necessarily turn out to be a barrel of laughs.
· Until January 20. Box office: 01482 323638.
