by Willy Russell

Liverpool - a tacky club, where David and Linda are holding their stag and hen parties the night before their wedding.

The only problem is, neither knows the other is there.

This is one of the best achievements of the writer well known for Educating Rita. His ear for the edgy, bleakly funny dialogue of his native Merseyside is unerring. He unfolds a lively, coarse and ultimately accurate picture of folk whose lives are losing their meaning.

Set in the respective gents and ladies loos OTTC take the action rapidly between the two groups, desperate to celebrate but confronting the loss of hope at every moment. Yet the Liverpudlian ability to survive through humour ultimately triumphs.