Acorn Antiques The Musical!, Victoria Wood's spoof of British soap operas, with their improbable plots, wooden acting and missed cues, was well received at Richmond Theatre this week.

There was no Victoria Wood, Julie Walters or Celia Imrie, but an excellent cast brought the best out of Wood's razor-sharp one-liners and witty lyrics from the same antique shop setting that nurtured the hit TV show.

The star of the show was the charismatic Ria Jones as Mrs. Overall. Ria, who recently finished a national tour as Rena Sweeney in Anything Goes, got all the elderly tea lady's mannerisms off pat.

Mrs. Overall, who is bent double with arthritus but believes that all troubles can be solved with a nice cup of tea and a macaroon, (she's right, isn't she?), is revealed to be the sole beneficiary of sisters Babs and Berta's father's will. But all is not that simple.

Sara Crowe and Lisa Peace excel as Babs and Bertha. Babs, the lovesick owner of Acorn Antiques, moves from one crises to another. Berta, her partner in the business, is desperately trying to jog the memory of her long lost lover, Mr. Clifford (Teddy Kempner), who after an accident, can only remember that he was engaged to someone!

They are struggling to keep the shop open and are quite keen to continue in their old fashioned ways. But their long lost sister Bonnie (Kim Ismay), a ruthless business woman, suddenly appears and can only see profit in selling or changing it into a coffee shop.

Another bad egg is Tony, who because he is on a no-suger diet has changed from a happy-go-lucky person to a mean minded money lender. Tony is convincingly played by Alistair Robins, who appeared at the Old Vic Theatre as Thomas Mowbray opposite Kevin Spacey. His many West End appearances include Marius in Les Miserables, The Beast in Beauty and the Beast and Hugo in Aspects of Love.

It's easy to understand how Sara Crowe received an Olivier nomination for Best Comedy Performance in Hay Fever at the Albert Theatre. Lisa Peace, who played Katie in Eastenders, and Kim Ismay, having appeared for three years as Tanya in Mamma Mia, also play big parts in making this a comic delight.

One disappointment was the musical numbers - they were rather bland and definitely not Woods' best.

But the audience gave this production a warm reception and cheered at the end - so it's another success for Richmond Theatre.