WHEN the cast list includes household names like Jenny Agutter and Timothy West, it's a relatively sound bet that an audience is in for a treat.

A packed house for the Georgian's annual fundraiser got just that, with a nostalgic and colourful double-bill beginning with Sam Butler & Co. With Timothy West narrating, and six accomplished actors seated in a semi- circle as if delivering a play reading, the players described the man behind the Theatre Royal, and told of the ups and downs of actors, audiences and popular culture over the last 225 years.

After the interval, the same cast gave a colourful and comic version of Lethe, a rarely revived but once enormously popular afterpiece.

Charles Kay's gently mocking character, the wise philosopher Aesop, had the onerous task of deciphering the requests of the mortal visitors arriving in the Underworld to take advantage of the mystical power of the waters of Lethe to erase unwanted memories.

As the full spectrum of human folly was exposed, Helen Bradbury was charmingly shallow as Mrs Riot, whose interest in high society constantly claimed her attention above all else, while Jenny Agutter's intermittent reference to the little book she carried as the dissatisfied newly-wed Mrs Tatoo, implied that the waters of Lethe may have already affected her memory of her lines.

The element of farce was best conveyed by David Pepper, whose costumes as the flamboyant Frenchman and winged Mercury, conductor of souls, were a comic triumph.

Timothy West's stellar performance in Garrick's own cameo role as the gouty old Lord Chalkstone was a fine tribute to the playwright and the historical significance of the piece was enhanced by the use of Britain's oldest set of scenery, the Woodland Scene dating back to 1836. A classy evening's entertainment, greatly enjoyed by all.

Chris McIntyre