STAIRCASE is a heartbreakingly sad play but also very funny. It needs two outstanding actors to do it justice, and Roy Barraclough and Kenneth Alan Taylor do that as two ageing homosexuals.

Written by Charles Dyer, who gives his name to Taylor's character, Staircase was first produced in 1966 for the Royal Shakespeare Company. Director Peter Hall used it to challenge the perceived idea of homosexuality and the power the censor had about its depiction on stage.

Today, there's nothing in the play to shock us when permanent gay relationships are accepted by most sections of society.

At the heart of the play is the essential loneliness of the characters who bicker continuously, but realise their need of each other.

Barracough plays Harry Leeds, the kindlier of the partners. The action is set in his barber's shop where the two ply their trade.

But Dyer - a former actor - still yearns to make a theatrical comeback. He has a court appearance hanging over him plus a meeting with his long estranged daughter.

To add to their troubles, Harry is suffering from alopecia which he tackles by hiding his baldness under a turban of bandages.

Barraclough makes Harry a very touching character as he bustles around Charles seeking to placate him. His pain when Charles' barbed comments strike home is palpable.

But he proves that when provoked enough he can be as cutting as his partner - and as funny.

Taylor enjoys himself as the overbearing Charles, hiding his worries with bluster and bragging and putting down his victim.

But when the veneer of arrogance is stripped from Charles, it is Harry who emerges as the comforter and the stronger of the two. This is a partnership between two people based on need.

Caroline Smith has given the two experienced actors a largely free rein in this production and this approach works well. Timing is of the essence as the characters' swift exchanges fly. DOREEN CROWTHER

Converted for the new archive on 14 July 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.