THEATRE: Spring and Port Wine

Watching Bill Naughton's Spring and Port Wine is like revisiting an old friend.

Although the sixties kitchen sink drama set in Lancashire still feels very much of its time, it remains as popular and entertaining as ever in the new millennium.

Appropriately enough this new production utilises the talents of Roy Barraclough, renowned for his role as penny-pinching cabaret agent and landlord Alec Gilroy in Coronation Street.

He plays Rafe Crompton, a proud, self-made man from humble beginnings with demanding principles and high ideals.

A patriarch with a tight grip on the purse strings, he rules the roost whilst his wife and four children tell white lies to keep dad happy.

When youngest daughter Hilda (Chloe Newsome) refuses to eat her herring at the dinner table the whole family start to rebel against Rafe and it's not long before secrets are brought out into the open.

Compared to James Mason's stern, rather austere portrayal of Rafe in the film version, Barraclough gives a more compassionate and humorous account without sacrificing any of the character's backbone.

Reuniting him with Chloe Newsome, who played Alec Gilroy's niece in Corrie, is a real masterstroke as the two develop a believable father daughter relationship that culminates in the final touching scene.

Alan Dossor's direction is assured and fine performances all round ensure this vintage comedy just gets better as it matures with age.

* West Yorkshire Playhouse, Leeds, until October 28. Book at Keighley Information Centre in the town hall or phone 0113 213 7700.

RICHARD BRUGGER