Jeffrey may be unwell but his spirit is well and truly alive and kicking in Keith Waterhouse's vibrant telling of the life of Barnard, a journalist by trade and a barfly-bohemian by lifestyle.

A larger than life character, he found his spiritual home - the spirit being vodka - in the pubs of his beloved Soho, until he died of renal failure in 1997.

One particular pub, The Coach and Horses, is the setting of this wonderfully funny play where, waking from a drunken stupor at five in the morning, he discovers he is locked in.

Between attempts to contact the pub's landlord to release him he regales to the audience with incidents from his colourful life.

The play is virtually a monologue, fleshed out with an assortment of characters which appear ghost-like on stage to enact the incidents he is recalling.

Among the many hilarious incidents related, the one that tickled the audience most described cat racing, a pastime invented by desperate gamblers when horse racing was abandoned during a prolonged winter.

The central character is a wonderful role for an actor but it is also a tough challenge.

Happily, this production by the Wick Theatre Company is blessed by the talent and skill of Bob Ryder, whose portrayal of Bernard is masterful.

Not only does he extract the full humour of this comic-tragic figure - the tragedy being self-inflicted - but he brings out the man's vulnerability, notably when reflecting on the deaths of so many friends and drinking companions.

Ryder is given wonderful support from the four actors who play the assorted wives, mistresses, drunks and tarts Bernard's imagination has peopled the stage with.

It is hard to fault this production with its superb direction by Patricia Lyne - but if pushed the only quibble would be that Ryder looked too healthy for the dissolute old rake.

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