FOLLOWING a smash hit seasonal show at the 'People's Theatre' a brand new work from one of its regular contributors has arrived for a month.

Nicky Allt co-wrote the first Brick Up The Mersey Tunnels and his own solo creations One Night in Istanbul and YNWA (You'll Never Walk Alone) the much-loved LFC theatrical salute which is making a timely return at the Court during the Reds' current silverware-soaked season.

Mr Allt knows a thing or two about scoring with Royal Court tastes.

Now Nicky's latest comedy Lost In Colomendy is looking at a place many Merseyside families will remember well nesting in North Wales where memories (good and bad) were born and life-long friendships sealed.

Two of my brothers were there and their recollections are ambivalent to this day.

Nostalgia isn't what it used to be.

I visited it once with my father and recall that everything seemed to be in black and white.

I have a photo of what seemed to me then as a piece of Welsh wilderness.

For many of those in the audience who had been there for long stays it is a chance to recapture some dramatic interpretations of fictional flashbacks.

The show's programme souvenir features funny anecdotes from Scouse 'inmates' of the camp.

On-stage references to the food and queuing up in the cold to phone home were well-received.

This production, directed by Paul Goetzee and designed by Alfie Heywood, is centred on four under-achievers who work at B & Q Speke where they avoid spade work ... so to Speke preferring to mess around with 'name that tune' quizzes even as their jobs are on the line.

In comes a feisty boss Helen (Jane Hogarth) who organises a bonding mission to climb Moel Famau where the feckless four can regain their mojo.

These diverse mates all went to Colomendy in their schooldays so there's plenty of 'Colomemories' to dig up for these intrepid outward bounders.

The four characters consist of former soldier Big H (John Evans), ex-train driver Brian and now paranoid political animal (Paul Duck Duckworth), the disillusioned-with-life and wife Barry (Alan Stocks) and librarian and trivia mastermind Stan (Liam Tobin).

While the first half is a slow plot-setter the second half is set mainly in a dour dormitory and an atmospheric hill top.

It then descends into a frenetic farce.

Somewhere along the way the play's creative compass must have got lost.

Insult-throwing abounds in the same mould as TV's anarchic series Bottom.

Loud slapstick is reminiscent of The Three Stooges, which sometimes drown out the dialogue.

One surreal scene sees Brian going mad with a fish slice having munched on some hallucination-inducing magic mushrooms.

If you enjoy a lot of Scouse banter, plenty of swearing and innuendo by the wheelbarrow-load then Nicky’s heart-felt, home- grown homage to Colomendy is right up your valley.

Three stars. 

Carry on ... Colomendy.

The show is on until February 29.

Tickets from the box office on 0151 709 4321.