WE all love a good sit-com. Think of some of your television favourites – Gavin & Stacy, Car Share, Porridge, The Likely Lads, Dad’s Army … Most of these comedy classics, and many others, were written by partnerships of talented writers. This is the starting point of Situation Comedy, the summer production by Yeovil’s Civic Players, at the Swan Theatre from 3rd to 6th June at 7.45pm.

But how do they get their ideas? And what happens when they go to extreme lengths to get inspiration? That’s the premise behind Brian Cooke and Johnnie Mortimer’s farce.

Two sitcom authors are both stuck for a new idea when, inadvertently, each man finds himself getting drunk with the other man’s wife. Macho man Charles Summerskill winds up with a beautiful but hopelessly inept partner, who is so artless in the kitchen that she burns salad. Wimpy Arthur Grey finds himself with a prim and proper expert chef. Charles ends up with indigestion while Arthur eats well but is left frustrated.

Eventually, work forces Charles and Arthur together again, but things then take a somewhat surreal turn, when art starts to reflect life in the strangest ways…

Civic Players chairman Andy Meadows says “For anyone who enjoys watching a good farce, Situation Comedy has it all – a solid set-up, wonderfully drawn characters and really good dialogue. It’s so cleverly written. And just when you think you know where it’s going, the whole thing spins off in an entirely unexpected direction. I guarantee none of the audience will predict what happens!”

This is the second time the company has presented the comedy, as director Rich Walters remembers: “We performed this play back in 2000, so we thought it would be exciting to offer it again as a revival. The very first time I read it, I thought it was genuinely one of the funniest scripts I have ever come across. Proper big laugh out loud funny and there are some incredibly sharp and witty one-liners.”

The cast is: Tom Moorcroft as Charles Summerskill, Colin Francis as Arthur Grey, Elinor Dawkins as Doris Summerskill, Tyler Snowden as Beryl Grey, Pauline Withers as Miss Trotter, and Rich Walters as Maurice.