A CLASSIC comedy from the pen of Ray Cooney comes to the town this week.

Phoenix Theatre Company return to the Stepping Stones stage in Chorley Old Road, Bolton, with the hilarious Run For Your Wife, a farce which shows that even bigamy can be played for laughs.

On the face of it, John Smith — played by Paul Costello — is an everyday London cab driver.

He has a lovely wife, Barbara, depicted by Charlotte Ashworth, and a seemingly perfect life in Streatham — but he also has second wife, Mary, who is played by Suchita Kotecha, and his other 'perfect' life just two miles away in Wimbledon.

Smith is able to juggle the two households because of his almost obsessive attention to a rigid timetable.

He keeps a notebook that records his every movement, where he is supposed to be and how long he is supposed to stay there at any given time.

The schedule is thrown out of whack because of an unexpected hospital visit, and, naturally, trouble – and hilarity – ensues.

James Abercrombie from the theatre company said: "When a play bills itself as a comedy, expectations are high that it can at least elicit a chuckle or three. Under the skilled direction of Peter Haslam the Run For Your Wife cast are delivering a rip-roaringly funny production of side slapping entertainment."

The rest of the cast is composed of Joe Cunliffe as Smith’s neighbour and friend Stanley Gardner, Mike Thomas as the loud flamboyant neighbour Bobby Franklin, Dave Hankinson and Ian Duckworth as the two officers of the law who threaten to expose Smith’s secret, and Steven Whitehead as the newspaper reporter with a nose for the truth.

It opens tomorrow and runs until Saturday.

For tickets call 07749261346 or email tickets@phoenixtheatrebolton.co.uk