OFFBEAT, highly original and totally relevant, The Bicycle Bridge is the latest production from comic theatre company Reject's Revenge and was an excellent choice to open Blackpool Grand Theatre's Studio season this week.

The trio of polished actors, Tim Hibberd, Rachel Essex and Ann Farrar, painted a sometimes stark and often hilarious view of human life in a city under siege, taking their cue from historical facts and presenting them with heart and soul.

Snippets and snipers were taken from the 1870 siege of Paris, the 1900 siege of Ladysmith in the Boer War and from the siege of Sarajevo -- and parallels couldn't help but be drawn with the current crisis in Afghanistan.

Lucy and Fred are lovers from the wrong sides of the fence in an East Side story. And the Bicycle Bridge is the only link left in the rubble between the two sides.

Fred's sister Gemma is the city zookeeper whose heartbroken song about how hard it is to kill an elephant reduced the audience to tears...of laughter.

Throw in a guitar, a squeezebox, a richly bizarre script and a few more fully rounded characters courtesy of a quick coat change and you've got the perfect ingredients for fantastic live theatre.