THE theatre at this time of year is inevitably awash with so many children’s pantos and Christmas shows, so it’s a relief to sit back and enjoy an “alternative” play which has nothing in common with either.

Surprisingly, in its 21-year history, this is the first time that Charlotte Jones’s amusing and poignant play about a gathering of quirky and kooky characters for Josie’s landmark 40th birthday is on stage in London. And Finsbury Park’s Park Theatre is an ideal location for its belated London debut.

Written and set in a cramped living room in Bolton in the 1990s, dominatrix Josie (a perfectly casted Kellie Batchelor) is in no mood to celebrate her birthday, but, persuaded by her client and dry-cleaning-business owner Lionel — likeable if dim — along with her ice-skating-obsessed daughter Brenda-Marie and her OCD cleaner Martha, she gives in. And so, with much entertainment from an Elvis impersonator — characterised brilliantly by Matt Lim who really is the star of the show — a night of fun, laughter and tears takes off.