Former Guardian journalist Michael Frayn has given us a host of deliciously witty comedies, including the recently revived Donkeys' Years and the side-splittingly funny Noises Off, as well as some seriously intelligent plays like Copenhagen and Clouds, the latter set in Cuba and drawing on his own journalistic experience. Balmoral dates from 1978 but is set in 1937 in a Britain that in 1917 experienced its own Russian-style revolution. The monarchy's Scottish residence has been turned into a writers' commune but all is not well; chaos has broken out and the warden, Skinner, is finding it hard to restore order. Things turn from bad to worse with the news that a government inspector is about to call on the commune. Rik Mayall returns to the stage as Skinner, a man determined to quell the anarchy all around him. Alan Strachan directs this rare revival.
• Theatre Royal, Wed to 22 Aug
