WRITER J B Priestley was, like H G Wells before him and Star Trekkers much later, obsessed with time travel.

He penned a number of so-called "time plays" - imaginative speculation about humans thrust into the past or the future.

"Time And The Conways", this week's enthralling production from St Joseph's Players, is a prime example as the play begins in 1919, sweeps us ahead to 1938 and then back again with startling consequences.

Director Doreen Johnson has produced a real gem this time.

And a strong cast has come up with solid gold entertainment.

For two of them, Michael Wilkinson and Lisa Cain, the play provides a marvellous debut.

But it (the play and the Conway family) is held together by the mother, played with panache and elegance by Joan Doorey.

Warmth and tenderness is delicately blended with raucous squabbling in a battle of wits and wills as the family unite and fight.

There is Dave Farrell (the reliable son) and daughters Pauline Nevell (sensitive and passionate), Margaret Hall (conceited and capricious), Barbara Mayers (clever and vulnerable) and Angela Grime (young and exuberant). The pompous family solicitor is David Grime, the in-law with a mean streak is Colin Magenty.

The staging by Terry McCabe is quite magnificent. Enjoy it!

Conways ends a four-night run tomorrow and is the first of the Leigh company's Autumn Double. The Alan Ayckbourn comedy "Table Manners" will be staged from October 7-10.

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