We all know him for crazy antics on his TV Madhouse but these days Russ Abbot has become one of the more respected stage actors around. The move from TV to theatre seems something the Eighties icon is more than happy about.

"I have always preferred theatre to TV from my West End debut in 1984," he says. "I love seeing the audience reaction.

With theatre, it's there in your face. There's always a different response to the same lines each night, so on a week's run with about eight different audiences you get eight different reactions to what you do."

In this fabulously barmy comedy, a period piece adapted from a short story by Oscar Wilde, he plays a dodgy palm reader called Septimus Podgus who likes to mingle with the upper strata of society and take advantage of their gullible belief in all things spiritual. One of his victims turns out to be the amiable Lord Arthur Savile, who is about to marry society saucepot Cybill and attempts to call Podgus' bluff.

Podgus proceeds to inform that his future shows he will commit a murder and if this killing does not take place before his impending nuptials, the victim may inadvertently end up being his future wife.

A frenzied farce ensues as Lord Arthur attempts to do away with some doddering old relatives already on the brink of death, but his lack of skill in the murdering department forces him to postpone the wedding again and again.

"It's a good old-fashioned play with a good storyline," explains Russ. "Podgus is a great character to play. He's a lovable rogue a comic villain. Because it's a melodrama, you have to play it for real. It's very different to modern, in-your-face comedy. The laughter is in the text you have to listen for it and find it by playing the parts very straight."

The tall, twinkly-eyed comedian and impressionist got his break starring in Freddie Starr's Variety Madhouse which, after Starr left in 1980, became known as Russ Abbot's Madhouse. With support from the likes of Bella Emberg, Les Dennis and Michael Barrymore, the Saturday night institution mixed quickfire gags with elaborate slapstick and farcical creations such as inept superhero Cooperman (an exaggerated impersonation of Tommy Cooper), detective Barratt Holmes, rock 'n' roller Vince Prince, air ace Boggles and Irish crooner Val Hooligan.

"The madhouse was going for 12 years," recalls Russ, "which adds up to 72 hours of sketches when played back-toback.That means if it was all on one tape and you pressed play on Monday morning, it would still be going on Wednesday. That's an awful lot of sketches.

"My favourite Madhouse character was Basildon Bond, this ridiculous guy in a balaclava and flippers who believed he was 007 and really important. The fact he thought he was so serious is when the acting comes in that's what makes it fun to play."

Russ was voted Funniest Man on TV several times and also featured in some dramas, musicals and sitcoms most notably as retired teacher Ted Fenwick in September Song, and as shoe salesman Ted Butler in Married For Life.

Despite an occasional dip into the serious, Russ seems destined for comedy, as this contemporary role in Lord Arthur Savile's Crime attests. Even his recent foray into Shakespeare last year had him playing the ever comical Bottom in A Midsummer Night's Dream.

"I do tend to get comic roles," he reflects. "But it's to be expected I suppose. People know I can do comedy well. I feel pretty lucky with my career I always seem to have been able to pick and choose what I do.

"But I wouldn't do the Russ Abbot show again the energy's gone. There's a different mood in TV comedy these days. I do feel sorry there isn't space for a new Russ Abbot show or anything like it. But the time of the variety show has gone."

Starts 7.45pm, tickets cost £15-£24. Call 08700 606650.