Pioneer comedy film director Mack Sennett isn't happy. "Cut!" he yells, "I heard a toilet flush." Since he is making a silent picture, this wouldn't seem to matter very much. But to Mack Sennett every interruption is a distraction.

"Who are you?" he screams at a large-eyed girl who scuttles on to the set. "You sent me out to the delicatessen, Mr Sennett," she replies.

And that, according to the musical Mack & Mabel, is how Mack Sennett met Mabel Normand, who became one of the most successful comediennes of the silent screen.

Mack & Mabel, with music and lyrics by Jerry Herman of Hello Dolly! fame, didn't create much of a stir when it first appeared in 1974. Now it's been given the Doyle/Travis treatment -- director John Doyle and composer/arranger Sarah Travis have been responsible for a string of innovative musical productions. Their last Watermill show, Sweeney Todd, transferred to the West End, and will shortly open on Broadway.

Doyle and Travis have always expected their casts to be all-singing and all-dancing. But they don't get to develop their individual roles very far here.

That's left to David Soul as Mack, and Anna-Jane Casey as Mabel. With his battle-scarred voice, Soul is absolutely the right choice for Mack Sennett. His singing isn't top-drawer, but he drew a convincingly rounded portrait of a workaholic with a tender heart.

Anna-Jane Casey brings extensive West End experience. She portrays a woman who is ambitious, but no bimbo.

However, not even John Doyle can disguise the fact that Mack & Mabel ends on a whimper, just like the careers of some silent screen stars. Mack & Mabel is at the Watermill until July 9.

GILES WOODFORDE