My Three Angels -- Keighley Playhouse

The Dulays, nice but naive proprietors of a desert-island shop, are in trouble in the latest Keighley Playhouse production (pictured).

Customers won't pay their bills, the daughter's boyfriend is engaged to someone else, and the owner of the shop is coming to check the books.

But it's Christmas Eve, and help is on hand from three visiting inmates of the local prison.

They're a charming trio, even if two are murderers and the other is an expert forger and financial trickster.

As this very likeable comedy grows from gentle to black and farcical, it's no surprise which talents they draw on.

Alison Broadley, Debbie Bowman and Edward Cowen are the strongest among a solid cast.

Lorna Noble, the director, draws out the laughs rather than dwelling on the moral dilemmas, keeping this unlikely tale just the right side of unbelievable.

The set is very good, and the decision to use English rather than French accents works well.

l Tonight and tomorrow 7.30pm, phone 08451 267859 today.

David Knights

Joseph the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat

I haven't seen Tim Rice and Andrew Lloyd Webber's first musical for three years, since my eldest son decided he was too old for it.

Now my younger son is six years old -- and I again have an excuse to watch one of my favourite shows.

Joseph is for the child in all of us, not so hot on depth or meaning but boiling with concentrated, undiluted, unadulterated fun.

The tunes are infectious, the words witty, the performances a joy, and the whole package is bright and colourful.

It's the tale of a young dreamer whose prophecies incite his 11 jealous brothers to sell him into slavery.

Joseph is seduced, imprisoned, saves Pharaoh's people from famine, then has a tearful reunion with his family.

That's it, apart from half a dozen encores that get everyone on their feet clapping and singing along.

This latest production is a corker, a few tweaks adding freshness and 70s teen TV star Mike Holoway, one of the best-ever Josephs, returning to the role.

l Bradford Alhambra, tonight 7.30pm, tomorrow 2.15pm, 7.30pm. Phone 01274 432000.

David Knights

Funeral Games -- Glusburn Institute

ARCADIA Players' decision to stage Joe Orton's Funeral Games was a brave one given the play's strict need for just the right tone and timing.

And although the cast made a stab at a very difficult play, the production proved a little beyond their capabilities this time around.

Funeral Games is an intriguing work. Part black comedy, part social/religious commentary, it deals with sanctimonious cult leader Pringle (Jonathan Parker) who gains local notoriety after supposedly doing away with wife Tessa (Wendy Milner).

He decides she must be killed, only to relent, when hired heavy Caulfield -- played well on the night by David Lynch -- reveals her friendship with defrocked priest McCorquodale (Chris Allen).

He in turn has actually murdered his wife, dumping the remains under several tonnes of coal in the cellar.

The play then follows Pringle -- who agrees to let his wife move in with McCorquodale if she lays low -- as he is accused by a reporter of lying about her murder to gain kudos.

The play contains some very funny lines, but they were sometimes too lost in delivery for the audience to fully appreciate.

Arcadia should be commended though for their decision to put on a live jazz band before and after the production in an attempt to give it something of an individual twist.

Stuart Roberts