Family reunions are always a hotbed of rows and recriminations. Add shocking revelations to the mix and you have a recipe for a gripping drama.

All of the above collide in Simon Mendes da Costas' acclaimed play Losing Louis, which takes a look at the relationship between two estranged brothers and their dissatisfied wives when they get together for the first time in ages for a funeral.

Tempers flare, wires cross and skeletons jump out of closets as they battle it out in their dead father's bedroom, the action switching between the past, when their father was a young man 40 years before, and the present.

Despite the tensions, or perhaps because of them, there are plenty of one-liners and comic turns. "It is comedy out of pain," says Rula Lenska, who stars in the play alongside Alison Steadman.

"Funerals are notorious for bringing out strange reactions in people.

"Sometimes there is comedy in things that are terribly sad. The author doesn't like calling it a black comedy but a lot of the jokes are based on death. He prefers to just label it a comedy, and it is very funny.

"I can certainly relate to peculiar circumstances at funerals," she continues. "I remember going to the funeral of a great uncle in France who was very famous in the Polish community. He was 6ft 7in tall. His coffin was several inches longer than the normal-sized coffin but no one told the gravediggers so when the time came for the coffin to be buried, it didn't fit in the hole. There was British, French and Polish television everywhere and it was like one of those Monty Python sketches."

Since emerging from the Celebrity Big Brother house, Rula has found herself inundated with offers to appear in commercials, although she makes it clear that rumours about cat food commercials are just that - rumours. Her appearance in the the Channel 4 show has undoubtedly raised her profile but this stage role was secured long before she entered the house.

"It is a lovely ensemble piece and I am having a wonderful time," she says. The flame-haired actress, who became a household name in the late Seventies for her role in TV drama Rock Follies, admits her main reason for doing Big Brother was to earn some money for herself and for her chosen charity.

"I'd always been rather scathing about reality TV," says Rula, "and I remain unconvinced it is worthwhile TV, but it is very cleverly constructed and manipulated. It is not the light-hearted romp that people might imagine from watching it."

Starts 7.45pm (Thurs and Sat mats 2.30pm). Tickets cost £15-£24, call 08700 606650.