Has Romesh Ranganathan been cloned? I just wondered because last Saturday, for example, he fronted not one but two primetime shows, Parent's Evening and The Weakest Link, while also making his West End theatre debut in Woman In Mind opposite Sheridan Smith. Yes, before you write in, I know TV programmes are often pre-recorded, i just wanted to highlight how busy, industrious and ubiquitous the Crawley comic is these days.

 

And talented. For someone not primarily known as an actor Ranganathan is one of the highlights of this revival of the 1985 Alan Ayckbourn play about a woman called Susan who goes into mental meltdown in a suburban garden after being hit on the head by a rake. 

 

Michael Longhurst's production blends broad comedy with darker tones, particularly in the second half when Susan's world seems to spin completely off its axis. Towards the end supporting players become different characters as if she has fallen down a particularly warped mix of Alice in Wonderland and Stars In Their Eyes - her vicar husband Gerald (Tim McMullan) somehow turns into late period, jump-suited Elvis.

 

This is essentially Smith's play. She is onstage throughout, often sprawled on the ground trying to make sense of everything. Sometimes she speaks in tongues and frequently hallucinates – an entirely imagined alternative family that nobody else can see keep returning and distracting her. Would life be better with them than with her real family?

 

Ranganathan is well cast in a distinctly comic role as hapless local doctor Bill Windsor that doesn't stretch him too much. There's some good pratfalling business early on when he trips on an ornamental frog and gets entangled in a garden chair and later his wordless hysterical cackle gets one of the biggest laughs of the night.

 

But overall though the production, directed by Michael Longhurst, feels dated without actually having any retro value. i presume it is set in the mobile phone-less era though son Rick (Taylor Uttley) seems to be wearing a more contemporary Glastonbury T shirt. This is a Terry and June sitcom world where local GPs are invited round for lunch. I can't even get my doctor to invite me in for an examination.