Rafael and his friends gave an enjoyable evening at the packed Playhouse. How enjoyable depends on what you expect from an evening of flamenco. While Rafael's own playing is pure flamenco, he had again added extraneous elements. Last year, we had two Indian musicians in the line-up; this time we had an electric guitar (Christian Garrick) and a remarkable flautist, Domingo Patricio, to add to the percussion of the hirsute El Bruja. Patricio opened the show with a long and intricate solo in which he produced an atmospheric and slightly mysterious feeling among the musicians, all of them bathed in a misty red light.

What followed was, in effect, a concert, leaving me and many others wondering when we would get the promised dancing which is so much an expected part of an entertainment billed as "an evening of emotion, fire, dance and music".

Eventually Carlos Otero stamped his way out from the wings to give us an accomplished solo, leaving the other dancer, Lola Rueda who was so riveting last year with nothing to do except sing a couple of songs seated at the side of the stage. Sing she certainly can, but why confine this exotic creature to a chair?

After the interval, Lola finally stepped out and danced. Here at last was a touch of your fire and emotion, with her marvelously expressive arms and fingers, and disciplined feet. There was also a duet with Carlos, but here there was a feeling of two individuals dancing at the same time, rather than of a couple involved together in the fierce ritual of flamenco dancing.

There was no programme to explain the subtleties of the different numbers being performed; Rafael himself did this from the stage, but it was hard to catch everything, especially the actual names of the pieces, delivered high speed in Spanish. Even so, within its limitations, this was a show that gave much pleasure. I liked the relaxed format of a man and his friends performing as though for their own pleasure, but if you're asking several hundred punters to pay for the privilege of attending, their needs should be given more consideration.