GEOFF Sword's bold direction brought to life this classic Noel Coward comedy about a well-off, arty family who invite a motley selection of friends to their riverside country house for a weekend's socialising.

It presents an entertaining, if distorted, picture of 1920s life among the well-to-do.

As the play unfolds, the pleasant little party is spoiled by the Bliss's appalling manners.

Their unfortunate guests flounder in a confusion of brittle politeness and false sincerity that characterises the Bliss’s snobbery.

Tender romances blossom and fade with unsettling rapidity.

But the style — my dear, the style!

Crisp dialogue spoken with impeccable clarity and precision by a well-rehearsed Summerseat Players cast emphasised Coward's genius with words.

Clodagh O’Flynn sparkled as Judith Bliss, the sometime beautiful, ageing actress planning a come-back to a career that she has, in truth, never left.

Sorel Bliss (Emma Bracewell) and Simon Bliss (Chris Balmer), exemplify the spoiled children of the well-to-do that made up much of Coward’s social circle.

These young actors played juvenile self-indulgence to perfection.

Brian Hunt.