In 'Perfect Wedding', The Mill at Sonning has produced a snap, crackle and pop of a farce which fizzes with frenetic energy from start to finish, writes Carol Evans.

Indeed, the pace pounds along with such high-octane force that by the end of the show, the actors look wrung out and ready for a well-earned rest.

And the audience loved it, including (sitting unobtrusively in the back row) Dame Judi Dench, whose daughter, the glorious Finty Williams, was one of this brilliant cast.

Robin Hawdon's comedy should come as a warning to all prospective bridegrooms: don't have your stag do the night before the wedding. And if you do, then don't get so paralytic you can't remember how you ended up in bed in the hotel's honeymoon suite with an unknown naked beauty beside you.

What follows is typical farce fodder - lies, deceptions, confusions, people with similar names, much door-banging and rushing about - but under Ron Aldridge's deft direction, the cast kept what could have been a well-worn cliché fresh and new.

Bridegroom Bill does not want his fiancée Rachel to know that he spent the night with another woman, so when she turns up to prepare for her big day, he shunts the stranger off into the bathroom to get dressed.

And so begins a catalogue of deception. To get himself off the hook, Bill persuades Best Man Tom to pretend that the girl in the bathroom (who Tom has not yet seen) is his girlfriend. But Tom mistakes her for the chambermaid, who has turned up to change the sheets, and persuades her to join the charade. More chaos ensues when Tom realises that the bathroom girl is indeed his real girlfriend, but by this time he's told everyone otherwise. So...confusion all round, especially when chambermaid Julie and real girlfriend Judy change roles - and names!

The cast were uniformly excellent. Rikki Lawton and Joseph Timms both gave robust performances as hungover Bill and wild-eyed Tom, ratcheting up the frenzy as circumstances caught up with them. Lucy Heath was a confident, no-nonsense bride-to-be Rachel, Carla Freeman gave a spirited portrayal as girl-in-the-bed Judy. Elizabeth Elvin's dishevelled mother-of-the-bride added yet another dimension to the mounting disorder. Above all, Finty Williams was mesmerising as feisty chambermaid Julie. This actor has such stage presence, it's impossible to take your eyes off her when she's on stage.

Comedies and farces go down very well with Mill audiences and this was no exception - although regulars would have noticed how very similar it was to Marc Camelotti's farce 'Don't Dress for Dinner' which was performed in May this year.

The show runs until November 18. Go to www.millatsonning.com