THE Monkton Players took audiences down the pub last week when they staged Last Orders by Yvonne and John Eddelstone.

The stage at West Monkton Village Hall was equipped with bar stools from The Merry Monk and a range of ominous looking farm implements as it became the Beaumont Arms.

The pub is the local for a community where the role of village idiot is carried out on a job share basis.

On walks landlord Owen (Terry Joiner), followed by flying crockery. His life is a battle to remain one up on his motley staff and customers while keeping under the radar of his battleaxe wife, Pat (Ruth Jones).

It is obvious the success of Owen's schemes will be short lived - whether it is rigging the pub's games machine, or hosting the local MP and his wife (Tony Hiscock and Natalie Piper) in an attempt to win favour with the golf club set.

What is less clear is why Pat has had to go out on Wednesday night - with Owen on strict instructions not to take any dinner bookings. Then there is the mysterious stranger (Colin Jones) who sits quietly in the corner scribbling his notes. What is he up to?

Directed by Cathy Blacklock, Last Orders romped along and the players delivered plenty of laughs from the gag laden script. The cast pulled off a series of complicated set pieces - notably Roger the barman's (Tim Hiscock) nimble explanation of the £10 cheque in the till: “It's complicated.”

Terry Joiner made a strong debut in the leading male role. Charlotte Hazelwood made Tracy the pub's brain-dead cleaner impressively obtuse. Village elder Wilf (Graham Pinney) and odd-job wheeler dealer Jester (Tony Barratt) kept the bar-room laughs rolling.

The comedy had the ring of The Vicar of Dibley, Only Fools and Horses and Fawlty Towers about it, but most importantly there was a ring of laughter around the hall.