"Write what you know" is the standard mantra among creative writing groups, which the extraordinarily prolific Alan Ayckbourn chooses to ignore by basing his 69th play on the concept of writer's block.
Returning to his familiar fictional borough of Pendon, Ayckbourn introduces us to the local writers' circle, a self-help group for the creatively stalled and artistically deluded, who meet once a month at the home of Arnold, a genial unmarried gent who dreams of creative endeavours more liberating than the translation of foreign instruction manuals.
It takes a while for one's initial cavils about the scenario to disperse. After all, the likelihood of Ayckbourn turning up at one of these gatherings seems as probable as a Buddhist attending an AA event, and you wonder if there isn't something just a little mean about a man galloping towards his 70th play making mock of a bunch of hopefuls barely out of the starting blocks.
Yet the second half provides a theatrical transformation of the magnitude only Ayckbourn can dream of. It would be appalling to reveal what it is: suffice to say that Ayckbourn even drops a few clues about his own creativity, most notably in an opaque speech in which Arnold haltingly advances his theory that an artist spends his life reinterpreting some significant personal trauma.
Ayckbourn scholars will be chewing over that for years to come. In the meantime, we can enjoy a slew of exquisitely judged performances under the author's own direction.
Terence Booth is blusteringly bilious as a cantankerous ex-schoolmaster; Clare Swinburne perfectly breathless as an over-industrious young reporter; and Eileen Battye deeply poignant in her determination to finish the Adventures of Doblin the Goblin before her children leave home.
Above all, John Branwell's Arnold achieves the Herculean feat of making common-or-garden decency seem interesting. You're left willing him to succeed - no doubt once he gets off the mark, another 68 plays will swiftly follow.
· In rep until September 17. Box office: 01723 370541.
