ALAN Bennett's Talking Heads monologues were an instant hit when first televised almost 30 years ago: this stage version has all their power and wit, and the theatre setting makes them even more thought-provoking.

One of the charms of these characters is that they are, on the surface, so ordinary and so familiar. Many of us know, or think we know, a feisty old lady who wants to keep her independence, resents the help offered her but fears what will happen if she doesn't accept it, a middle-aged man who still lives with his mother and has never 'grown up' or a spinster lady whose only pleasure in life is picking faults with the actions of others, certain that her view of things is always right.

Alan Bennett's writing makes it easy to laugh at them, and with them, as they wend their lonely little way through their lonely little lives.

But of course what we don't know, and what these monologues reveal, is what these people really - or maybe really - think.

It takes an actor of great strength to hold the attention for a stage monologue, where there are potential distractions to the eye and ear. Stephanie Cole, Siobhan Redmond and Karl Theobald are superb, creating characters which within a few seconds have you completely believing in them, thinking that you know who they are - and then, within a few sentences, you have to revise your opinions.

The clever stage set for this show comes complete with curtaining which reminds you of the way early TV screens shrank to a pinpoint before darkening. It also made me think of an eye focussing, an image enhanced by the perspective of the set itself - some people might find this a little bit of a distraction, my companion confessing she wanted to straighten the doorways out.

In Lady of Letters, Siobhan Redmond showed us a glimpse into the life of Miss Ruddock: at first a rather hard and unlikeable person, in a performance so powerful she brought the theatre to complete silence on more than one occasion, it was amazing to see the way she used physical acting skills to make the character soften, warm and change our perceptions by the end of her tale.

It was easy to feel instant sympathy for Karl Theobald, as Graham in A Chip in the Sugar, as he made us realise how fragile the emotional armour people surround them with can be.

Stephanie Cole has a hard act to follow as Doris, the elderly widow who spots the Cream Cracker under the Settee, as for many people she will be forever played by the late Dame Thora Hird. Brave, lonely and with a tragic backstory, she made Doris' dilemma by far the saddest of the three tales and brought the evening to a rather anti-climactic close.

This is an evening of gentle comedy, with enough laughs to lift the spirits and some superb acting. One tip, if you are venturing into Bath before the run ends on August 8: the shows starts early at 7pm, so eat first or risk embarrassing yourself with a rumbly tumbly in a spellbound auditorium.

Alison Phillips