THE Mischief Theatre group has scored a smash-and-grab hit with its latest production, A Comedy About A Bank Robbery.

At Bristol Hippodrome until Saturday (Feb 16), the play is one of the funniest shows to go on tour from the London West End.

Written by Henry Lewis , Jonathan Sayer and Henry Shields, it comes from the same stable as The Play that Goes Wrong and the Olivier-nominated Peter Pan Goes Wrong.

In the style of a 50s Hollywood comedy, it portrays an attempt by a Canadian gang to steal a priceless diamond from the Minneapolis City Bank.

An escaped convict is dead set on pocketing the gem with the help of his screwball sidekick, trickster girlfriend and the maintenance man.

With mistaken identities, love triangles and hidden agendas, where even the most reputable can’t be trusted in a town where everyone’s a crook, who will end up bagging the jewel?

The script contains multiple variations of the old gag in Airplane in which the word 'surely' is misheard as 'Shirley' and is jaw-achingly funny.

But this farce requires some very complicated staging and acting to go exactly right and achieves it to perfection.

It presents a visual feast of verbal gags and physical slapstick in which the actors' comic timing and their use of props and staging is daringly inventive.

There is also a truly astonishing perspective scene in the second act which actors remain vertical but are suddenly seen from above.

The play is on until Saturday February 16 from 7.30pm, with 2.30pm matinees on Thursday and Saturday. Tickets from £13 are available on 0844 871 3012 or from www.atgtickets.com/bristol.

John Baker