Ray Cooney began his career as an actor at 14 and since that time he has continued to act, produce, direct, write and co-write farces and comedies on the West End.

He is known throughout the world for his farces such as Run for your Wife, Not Now Darling and Chase Me Comrade.

In 2001 he was awarded a Laurence Olivier award for Best Comedy for his play Caught in the Act.

Tom, Dick and Harry is a comedy written with his son, Michael, and was first staged in 2003 in the West End.

Tom, Dick and Harry centres around three brothers: Tom (James Edwards), Dick (David Salter) and Harry (Matt Houston): Tom and his wife, Linda (Lana Adamuszek), are expecting a Mrs Potter from an adopting agency to approve them as potential parents. Brothers, Dick and Harry, are loveable rogues and, understandably, Linda does not want them around giving a bad impression to the adopting agency.

I associate Ray Cooney with British farce in the ’70s and was expecting a play of that ilk; men caught with their trousers down, husbands explaining why there is a lady in her underwear in the bedroom, mistaken identities and characters continually going in and out of doors. There is some of that in this play but the jokes and gags are set up early and keep coming.

In typical British comic style, Dick has brought back from Europe Tom’s van containing illegal cigarettes and brandy and two illegal immigrants; youngest brother, Harry, has hatched a plan that involves bringing body parts from a morgue to be buried in the backyard.

Cooney’s words provide a wonderful opportunity for characterisation which these actors relish: Edwards and Adamuszek are solid as the stable, sensible characters in a world of underworld mayhem; David Salter is as comfortable on stage as any professional and he ensures that the delivery of every Cooney joke gets a laugh – he used his upstage entrances brilliantly; Matt Houston is physical and funny as the slightly sillier brother; Stanley Tuck successfully underplays Constable Downs as a foil to the madcap members of the family and Penni Hamilton-Smith is a strong-minded Scottish Mrs Potter; Tamara Bennetts and Glenn Vallen are stereotypical illegal immigrants but they are an entertaining part of the fun; and John Koch is impressive in a short but successful cameo as Boris, a major criminal involved in the Russian mafia.

Vinnie Eustace’s set is tasteful and allows for the physical gags of characters appearing and disappearing and even falling out of a window.

On the night that I saw the production, Ray Cooney was in the audience and he seemed delighted with the performance; he is remarkable in his continued involvement with theatre and that he travels the world seeing productions.

Director, Ian Rigney, has directed the cast to use the stage confidently, skilfully and with great energy from start to finish.

Rigney and the Adelaide Repertory Theatre should be well pleased with themselves and this production.

Ray Cooney’s lines are clever and this company guarantees laughs.

Adelaide Repertory Theatre is presenting ‘Tom, Dick and Harry’ at The Arts Centre, Angas Street, from November 27 to 29.