The Guardian John Gross

An introduction to the three of me

A housewife from the outer suburbs called Mary has just been elected Mum of the Year by the local paper. (She didn't know anything about the competition: her name was submitted by her sister.) A reporter from the paper interviews her in the bar. What he doesn't realise - though he does start wondering to whom some of her remarks are addressed- is that there are really three of her.

There is "me", the pleasant, diffident woman who sits facing him across the table, and hovering behind her there are two other selves. "Myself" is hard-boiled: she takes a jaundiced view, not without some reason, of the cards life has delt her. "I", on the other hand, is upbeat and raring to go.

Together they comprise the principal personel of Me, Myself and I, a chamber musical by Alan Ayckbourn first staged at The Orange Tree Theatre in Richmond 20 years ago, and now revived there in a production that makes you wonder why it isn't seen more often. If you knew nothing else of Ayckbourn, you would be able to deduce from it that he was a writer of exceptional wit and ingenuity, and humanity, too while the music, by Paul Todd, is bright and tuneful and compliments the text perfectly.

In the first half Me and the reporter are momentarily drawn to each other, while revelations of her fantasy life alternate with the mundane reality. In the second half her husband Bill appears-decent but insensitive, wrapped up in his job in electronics. Every number advances or extends the story, from the spirited Wife Swap Dance (performed with a great flourishing of house-keys) to Closer, with memories of Me and Hill's first get-together (he was steeped in Valderma, but still in love).

The show is chiefly notable for its humour, but it finds room for rage, desperation and forgiveness as well. Jacqui Charlesworth's Me is enormously sympathetic, Jessica Martin's Myself refreshingly sour, Stephanie Putson's I comfortably sturdy: they make an ideal trio. Bill and the reporter are both played, very capably, by Nigel Richards, and Kim Grant, who staged the original 1982 production, directs. The result is a model of light but intelligent entertainment, just right for Christmas- or any other time of year.