It was witty, original and entertaining, but I expected more from Richmond Theatre's latest production, Martha, Josie And The Chinese Elvis -after all, it was written by award-winning playwright Charlotte Jones and starred one of Britain's best-loved comedy actresses in Maureen Lipman.

Jones whetted our taste buds with six dysfunctional characters, including a prostitute specialising in domination, a client who likes to dress as a French maid and be whipped and an obsessive compulsive cleaner, yet her script was too lightweight for me, lacking a real plot, and never delivering a knock out punch.

Director Rachel Kavanaugh was partly responsible for failing to fully exploit several zany situations and certainly missed a trick where Elvis was concerned. She had at her disposal Paul Courtenay Hyu, voted among the three best Elvis impersonators in the the UK, but passed up the chance to really let him have his head by making one of the King's songs a real show-stopper!

Instead, the Chinese Elvis (who isn't even really Chinese) was constantly interrupted, talked over or heckled as he struggled to remember all the words of the songs, as he script demanded. I felt that, with such a talented singer in the role, complete with dazzling costume, a golden opportunity was missed.

Maureen Lipman, as the eccentric cleaner who counts to five repeatedly to help her keep her cool and avoid temptation, did get a big scene when her repressed character finally let her hair down in the second act. Her outlandish dance was chorographed by Craig Revel Horwood and, though it was hilarious, it was just as well that Horwood was not judging for technical merit as he did on BBC's Strictly Come Dancing.

All the action takes place in the Bolton home of the dominatrix, Josie (played with gusto by Lesley Dunlop). She tells her frustrated client Lionel (whose character grew steadily in stature thanks to the inspired Derek Hutchinson) that it is her 40th birthday and she is going to retire. Lionel decides to throw a party - despite a lack of guests - and book the Chinese Elvis as an entertainer. It's a receipe for disaster and Josie must have wished she had quit while she was on top!

There is plenty of pathos, much of it involving single mum Josie's two daughters. Michelle Tate gave a moving performance of mixed emotions as the brain damaged Brenda-Marie, haunted by the death of her sister Shelly-Louise, and was suitably dumbfounded when the corpse turned up alive in the form of Emily Aston.

With Shelly-Louise donning one of her mother's kinky dominatrix outfits and a sex-hungry Lionel chasing frightened virgin Marta, there were several funny moments. The best line came from the Elvis impersonator after he was asked if he liked it when women threw their nickers at him. "No," he replied, with perfect timing. "They'd gone grey in the wash!" But this was intended as a farce, and would have benefited from some frantic door opening and banging!