Patsy Palmer has at last lost her East End accent and is playing it straight in Richard Harris's bittersweet comedy Stepping Out.

She plays Mavis Turner, a former professional dancer who teaches tap dancing to a bunch of hapless would-be hoofers in a drafty church hall.

Harris's comedy is now 20 years old but its age doesn't show a bit. The piece is extremely well-observed and the script remains sharp and witty with some cracking one-liners.

Palmer is just one of an ensemble cast which serves this non-demanding piece well. This is a show to warm the heart without stretching the mind.

The cast are all good dancers as they reveal in due course, making the bumbling and stumbling beginnings all the more remarkable and funny.

Harris slowly gives us thumbnail sketches of his characters. Some are there for a laugh and to get out of the tedium of humdrum lives and others see it as an escape from their problems.

The church hall becomes a place where they can share their hopes and dreams, their anxieties and bitterness.

My favourite character is Sylvia, played superbly by the gorgeous Suzie Chard.

Oddly, it is Palmer's character, Mavis, who is the weakest-drawn of the lot and here Harris's writing does little to help.

Stepping Out remains a pleasantly funny piece of theatre which is always amusing, easy on the eye and tells the story of people just like us. You will enjoy it.