Wednesday, January 31 until Saturday, February 3, Theatre Royal Bath.

STEPHEN Tompkinson, one of the country's top television actors, stars in Mel Smith's dazzling new production of the comedy classic Charley's Aunt which opens at the Theatre Royal Bath next week, prior to a national tour and London's West End.

It's Oxford, 1908 and undergraduates Jack and Charles are smitten by two most delightful young ladies, Kitty and Amy, but they can't spend any time alone unless there is a female chaperone present.

The imminent arrival of Jack's mysterious but very wealthy aunt, Donna Lucia D'Alvadorez from Brazil, provides the boys with the perfect excuse for a luncheon invitation.

When Donna delays her trip to Oxford, Jack and Charles find themselves without the required chaperone.

Desperate not to miss the chance to see Amy and Kitty before they are whisked away to Scotland by their cantankerous guardian Mr Spettigue, Jack comes up with a cunning ruse and persuades fellow student and aspiring thespian Lord Fancourt Babberley (Tompkinson) to impersonate Charley's aunt.

Flirting with the young ladies when he is supposed to be acting as a chaperone is amusing, but Babberley soon gets more than he bargained for when he has to fend off the attentions of Jack's father and Mr Spettigue. Then, would you believe it, the real Donna D'Alvadorez decides to surprise her nephew by arriving in Oxford unannounced, and things simply go from bad to worse for the lovely Jack and Charles Stephen Tompkinson has just completed filming a second series of the ITV series Wild at Heart. His other credits include Ballykissangel, Ted and Alice, Brassed Off as well as Drop the Dead Donkey, for which he won the Best Comedy Actor Award.

Completing the cast are Nicholas Clayton, David Partridge, John Vine, Richard Syms, Michael Melia, Tatina de Marinis, Emily Pennant-Rea, Marty Cruickshank and Sophie Roberts.

Charley's Aunt is directed by Mel Smith. Mel is no stranger to the play having directed Griff Rhys Jones in the Olivier Award winning production in 1984.

Other credits as director include the films The Tall Guy starring Jeff Goldblum and Emma Thompson and Bean star- ring Rowan Atkinson.