Lord Arthur Savile's Crime, taken from a novella by Oscar Wilde, is one amiable piece of nonsense given a sparkling outing by adapter Trevor Baxter, director Christopher Luscde and a talented ensemble cast.

Lord Arthur (John Sackville) is to marry Cybil Merton (Sara Crowe) when at a society gathering his palm is read by Septimus Podgers (Russ Abbot), who foretells that Lord Arthur is going to commit a murder.

Hearing it may well be his new wife he will kill, Lord Arthur determines to murder someone before his marriage, preferably an alien member of his family.

But things do not turn out as planned until one night along London's Embankment.

This play, a comedy melodrama, is beautifully executed in a pastiche of Wilde and set on an Edwardian stage complete with a violin and piano accompaniment, scene change announcement cards and an embroidered curtain.

Each scene is linked by readings from Wilde's poem The Ballad Of Reading Gaol and many of the one-liners are taken from other works by Wilde.

The costumes are fabulous, complete with bustles and cleavage for the woman and formal dress for the men. Russ Abbot is an extremely neat sight, dressed in a red dressing gown at breakfast and Royce Mills is a dashing Dean of Chichester.

Russ Abbot, voted five years running as television's funniest man, has now become a remarkable character actor and he is ably supported by Susan Penhaligon as Lady Windermere, among others.

If you are a fan of Wilde's wonderful wit and of pure theatre, this is a show not to be missed.