Theatre, Hamilton.

*** You might think it's a bit of a cop out doing a play about the trials and tribulations of the most incompetent and amateur of amateur dramatic societies -- after all, with things going wrong left, right and centre, how is the audience to know when the bloopers are planned and when they're genuine? In the end it doesn't matter too much. "The Art of Coarse Acting'' is wonderfully funny, riddled with plenty of verbal and slapstick jokes that kept the audience in fits most of the way through the production.

The play is in fact divided into four playlets, with the incompetent cast and equally incapable crew reducing classical Shakespeare, a tense whodunit, a poignant war drama and an epic adventure story into complete farce.

The production kicked off with "Stalag 69'', the story of a brave Second World War pilot who, captured by the Germans, is prepared to face a firing squad rather than give away top secret information to the enemy.

It all sounds very tragic and heroic doesn't it? But a massive blunder in the construction of the set -- a stark prison cell -- reduces what should be the portrayal of a brave man's last moments into Laurel and Hardyesque buffoonery.

The clever thing about "Stalag 69'' is that the play is then repeated once the stage hands have made the necessary corrections to the set. But so embarrassed is the cast, with all confidence gone, that actors fluff their lines and miss their queues while more set and prop mishaps once again reduces the performance to tatters.

"All's Well That Ends As You Like It'' was a brilliant take-off of amateurs hamming it up and pretending to be real "thesps''. But of course, once again enthusiasm failed to cover the cast's shortcomings.

After the interval the audience was treated to "Streuth'', an Agatha Christie-like whodunit set in an English country house, and Moby Dick, a somewhat abridged version of the classic novel.

Of course it's easy to just dismiss the whole thing as a bit of light, panto-type, entertainment but the society members obviously worked very hard in getting their routines right. And while slapstick comedy might not be regarded in the same league as more serious theatre, this play still requires a degree of comic timing and acting ability, something that some of the cast obviously have.

Among the performances that stand out, Jo Shane was brilliant playing the part of a very upper middle-class English woman trying to play the part of a cockney maidservant in "Streuth'' while Tim Taylor was excellent as the lead in "Stalag 69''. Angus Brown and Ray Moore were superb in the Shakespearian drama and Phil Taylor stole the show with his role in "Moby Dick''. I don't want to give too much away but his "harpoon exiting stage right'' routine had me in stitches. He also slipped in and out of character effortlessly and did some very strange things with his bone. Any criticisms? Well perhaps the fact that the show opened with the two stronger routines made the second half a bit of an anti-climax. Some of the jokes also became a bit obvious and predictable towards the end, although I appreciate that this is perhaps a fault of the play itself rather than the production.

That said, "The Art Of Coarse Acting'' is a very funny play with the odd gem of a line, well put together by both the cast and crew of BMDS. Yes, at times the tears were rolling down my face.

Unfortunately the show only runs until tomorrow and seats are few and far between. Get one if you can.

GARETH FINIGHAN THEATRE THR