Get stuck in to Second Helpings

Dinnerladies: Second Helpings served up at Eden Court.

WHEN your TV fans already know the perfect ingredients that will go into DINNERLADIES: SECOND HELPINGS, it’s all about letting your audience savour this last slice of the live stage version.

Shut your eyes, and Victoria Wood’s frothy comedy comes to life through her lines.

"Don’t get your tongue pierced cos it hurts when you say sausages," teen rebel Twink points out.

"Not bad for a flat-bottomed nymphomaniac," says spring chicken Dolly.

Big on surreal ideas and her almost clinical observations about the vital details of ordinary, boring real life, all Wood’s words need is a pinch of perfect timing.

And that’s what they serve up in the production at Eden Court this week.

With impersonation of the original TV cast part of the challenge for the stage actors, there are some uncanny matches.

Actor Barrie Palmer is about as close as you can get to original actor Duncan Preston’s OCD maintenance man Stan – who has to iron his paper party hats and "keeps an ear out for cistern trouble".

And Laura Sheppard as Bren – originally played by Victoria Wood herself – has got the deadpan delivery and apologetic smiles to a T.

But, just as this production of many mini-storylines leading to a big finish wants, we’re blown away by Sue Devaney filling the slightly grubby breeks of Bren’s eccentric old mum Petula, as created by an inspired Julie Walters.

For this second stage version, it’s business as usual in the Northern factory canteen kitchen, with Petula bagging a 16-year-old toyboy, a baby being found, a merger interfering with routine, and change bringing challenges for the whole gang.

And will Bren take her chance of a new life with Tony – in the Highlands!

The familiar set comes with a couple of nifty additions – an LED sign to tell us what day it is and a clever show within a show set up on TV.

Yet this production may not be everyone’s cup of tea.

The odd double entendre is as racy as the humour gets – and Twink’s enthusiastic lap dancing moves may be pure comedy, but they’re not going to trouble red-blooded libidos.

And though the cosy Groundhog Day world of granary torpedoes and crusty bloomers is as timeless as ever, this storyline reminds you that change is inevitable.

But that sometimes nice underachievers like Bren get a chance for happy endings too.

If you loved the TV series, get Second Helpings while you can.MC

At Eden Court, Inverness, until Wednesday.