The Phoenix Players had audiences rocking with mirth at The Arts Centre in Swindon last week.

Members of the company designed and built the excellent set, which depicted two rooms of a hotel suite in Cleveland, Ohio, in 1934. Good period decor and costume enhanced the cast’s brilliant, slickly timed performance.

Colin Wilkins directed this production, in which Courtenay Merchant played Tito Merelli, an Italian operatic star renowned as Il Stupendo, who was to appear as Otello at a gala performance for Cleveland Grand Opera Guild’s tenth anniversary.

Nicholas Gratton was marvellous as Saunders, the manager overseeing the event, and relying on his assistant Max - so well played by Martin Whiteley - to ensure the gala’s success.

Events escalated after an impromptu singing lesson, a badly timed blend of pills and Chianti, and the availability of two costumes for the lead role. Emma Palmer as Maggie, Saunders’ daughter; Stephanie Trinci as Merelli’s fiery wife, Margaret Price as Julia, president of the Opera Guild, and Nicky Ashdown as Diana, the co-star, were all superb. Mark Harris, as the hotel’s bellhop, gave a great performance as a persistent fan, intent on meeting the great man.

A triumph for the Phoenix Players, and a real tonic on a dreary winter evening.