Barrie Rutter has donned various costumes during his 25 years at his beloved Northern Broadsides.

For his final touring production he paces across the stage in a sedate 1920s suit.

His distinctive voice is softer but as broad as ever.

Rutter’s character, the boorish hypocritical banker Algy Fuller, is also a bad poet.

A multi-flawed fellow and yet there is more to his skulduggery than meets the eye as he out-grins even the Cheshire cat.

Barrie is also the director of this play he calls ‘a daft comedy about greed, deceit and human folly.’

It is an inspired choice for Broadsides – a new adaptation of Lesage’s 18th century Turcaret by stalwart Blake Morrison. Financial corruption is at the heart of the story.

Like the pursuit of love, the quest for money is equally a universal theme.

Put them together with comedy involving bankers, add some 20s music and you have a typical Broadsides satire.

Set in a small Yorkshire town, Rose is a war widow (Sarah Jane Potts) who is,

to put it bluntly, skint, but she does has two suitors.

Apart from Algy, there is young, flash gambler Arthur (Jos Vantyler) who has a dubious blatant interest in Rose.

He has a gift... for taking her gifts.

The expressive Mr Vantyler is proficient in the choreography department and has strong stage presence and comic timing. He plays the dastardly Arthur like a silent film star.

It is a love triangle involving rather unpleasant people. Even Rose has a decidedly thorny side.   

The adage ‘money is at the root of all evil’ rings true as a   collection of characters come and go – and you begin to wonder who is going to emerge out of the play with their self-esteem intact.

A bailiff, a drunk, a good time girl, a second-hand clothes dealer and two unsettling servants provide the backdrop.

Central characters arrive on stage with a personal dance. An effective device to tell the audience a bit of theatrical shorthand about themselves.

So just who can we trust?

It is indeed a tale of amoral, monstrous wealth and whopping great lies.

All good, clean fun. Actually, it’s not that clean, but definitely fun - what else would you expect when Rutter changes Paris of 300 years ago to the Yorkshire of 1929?

Designer Jessica Worrall keeps the set a sparse living room uncluttered which allows for a lot of walkabout freedom for the cast.

I was reminded, at one point, of the film and stage play Dirty Rotten Scoundrels because I wasn’t sure who was conning who whether in love or - as the title goes – money (brass in Yorkshire).

Rutter directs in a jolly good way to take his final bow as the main man of the Northern Broadsides Company.

They will continue to be one of our most respected and accessible touring groups and, happily, we haven’t seen or heard the last of Barrie who goes solo next April, by gum!

A stylish four stars - until Saturday, November 25.

For tickets call the box office 0151 709 4776.