IN the catalogue of performances by Thurrock Courts Players dating back over more than five decades, I doubt few have been as uproariously funny as the latest offering from this talented company.

'Cash On Delivery', which opened at the Thameside Theatre this evening (Thursday 16 May) proved a gem of jocularity.

Neither playwright Michael Cooney - son of the illustrious Ray Cooney - or the play itself are going to be in the vanguard of names and titles that catch public attention. Though Michael is an accomplished screenwriter, his farce – first published in 1997 – is relatively unknown, though it has enjoyed a successful run at the West End's Whitehall Theatre.

Perhaps that's why the audience at opening night took up barely a third of the Thameside seats. Unfamiliarity, it appears, breeds something akin to contempt, or at least indifference.

More fool those who choose not to go, but there are two productions left on Friday and Saturday and I promise you, you will find it money well-spent! Log on and book via this link and you will not be disappointed.

It's not an easy production, particularly for an amateur cast, with plenty of fast-paced and complicated dialogue, especially for the central characters. Fair play once again to Courts for taking on the challenge.

It's a test they more than passed with flying colours. I can't remember when I last enjoyed such an unexpected evening of riotous farce, delivered by a cast who must have put in copious hours of learning and rehearsal. Courts have picked up a plethora of NODA prizes in the past. If this doesn't see them adding to the trophy cabinet I will be very much surprised.

The hard-working cast of Cash on Delivery.

Like all the very best British comedies, many of them penned by Michael's famous dad – the godfather of farce in the UK - the premise is relatively simple.

There's a bloke, Eric Swann, cheating the DSS and not telling his wife he's lost his job. He's accumulated thousands of pounds by making fraudulent benefit claims on behalf of an army of fictional lodgers.

But it's all got too much so he decides to kill them off and the fun starts with a message to the DSS, which prompts a visit by an inspector. Let the mayhem begin.

As well as being gloriously funny, the plot cocks a satirical finger in the eye of the benefits system. It's clever on so many levels.

Eric is played by Ian Benson in his second lead role for Court Players. He was memorably brilliant as René in Allo, Allo! in February. And it's staggering that less than four months later he was back on the boards delivering another outstanding performance.

The man is a tour-de-force.

His timing and delivery, sometimes with just a look and no words, is superb. And the glacé cherry on top of this sweet and scintillating comic dessert was a glorious ad-lib in the closing moments of the show after he got a line wrong. How he'd got the wit and quick-thinking to pull it out after almost two-hours in the limelight, and a truly punishing verbal routine, is beyond me.

But one man, good as he may be, does not make a show on its own and around Ian is a small cast who each master their roles.

None more so than Michael Southgate as the increasingly bewildered Norman Bassett (as in Conquest and Liquorice!).

From a diminutive entrance when he seems like a man out of his depth, the character of Norman – and sequence of alias – grows and grows and he ends up matching and catching the limelight every bit as much as the leading man.

Throw in the unflappable Wayne Prince, who shows another side to his multi-faceted stage persona as increasingly confused (and sozzled) DSS inspector Wayne Prince, and you have a triumvirate of leading men out of the top drawer.

And the ladies aren't far behind. Cody Gray is both battleaxe, mondaine and temptress all in one as Eric's much put-upon wife. As the twists unravel around her she stomps the stage with an all mood-embracing performance.

Lauren Jones, as far removed from her performance as flighty Yvette in Allo, Allo! as you can get, delivers laughter-laden lines and audience delighting postures virtually every moment she's on stage.   

Kevin Watts was like an older version of Micky Flanagan flitting around the stage – and was almost as funny when he was dead as when he was alive!

And as a totally bemused marriage psychologist, Trevor Povey was thoroughly convincing as a doctor totally perplexed by the mayhem going on around him. Who wouldn't be? The belly-laugh, tear-jerking lines rained around him, shotgun fashion.

The farce rounds off with almost cameo roles from Jill Snelling as DSS enforcer Ms Cowper and Sophie Nash as Norman's completely bamboozled fiancé – but they too make every moment they are on stage count.

Throw in George Andelon's role as mortified undertaker Mr Forbright and the cast is complete.

This is a performance to be enjoyed totally in the round and I can only deliver a verdict that it was a totally unexpected, mirth-filled masterpiece. If you've got the opportunity, go along!

Many of us have spent the last few years championing the cause of our local theatre. It was created for performances such as this. A community of actors, technicians and supporting group members coming together to deliver something special!

You can't buy memories created by seeing productions like this, but the title's appropriate. Cash on Delivery and Courts Players did deliver…..!

There are two performances remaining, both at 7.45pm on Friday and Saturday. The production was directed by Martyn Williams and produced by Martyn Williams and Vic Gray.