Jeannine Alton finds Trevor Griffiths' comic play is dated and preachy

Trevor Griffiths's Comedians deals with six wannabe comics, nightschool pupils of a former not-very-good performer Eddie Waters, honing their acts for their try-out night at a local club.

We see them perform, their confidence shaken by the revelation that Bert, a London agent and their judge, is an old enemy of Eddie. And we return dejected and edgy with them to the dingy classroom to hear their fate.

Oxford Stage Company's revival comes complete with real-time clock. The central scene in the tatty club was a joy, showing the hapless acts.

But - a big but - the play is dated in more than the obvious ways. The characters argue over rude words now bandied about by schoolchildren. The characters (all admirably played) are a collection of stereotypes - Irish, Jewish, double-act brothers with no black face to be seen.

Eddie (Ron Moody) mixes improv exercises with philosophising on comedy as "medicine". Griffiths said his play prepared for alternative comedy. But was this ever humane?

This may be why the "unattached" characters come off best - Bert (George Layton) the smart aleck with his jaunty black trilby, Ged (Nicholas Tennant) the cheeky chappie milkman with his George Formby smile, and of course anarchic Gethin (David Tennant) shaven-headed, with his white-faced clown act, surreal, terrifying, without compassion or compromise. Even this is watered down by a final preachy soapbox duo with Eddie as the clock ticks on.

At the Playhouse until Saturday