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Intimate Theatre’s contribution to the Lichfield Festival is always a much-anticipated highlight for me, but this year director Elle Knight somehow surpassed even her own high standard to produce an evening that rose to a theatrical peak many professional companies would struggle to come anywhere near.

The first half of the evening, Pam Valentine’s Alternative Accommodation played a series of delightful tricks on an audience who were shouting with laughter by the end. For this comedy about an elderly bereaved mother badgered by three interfering grown-up children Ms Knight brought out the big guns, four seasoned players with a wealth of adroit ensemble playing between them.

Mandy Davies was marvellous as the over-busy and not too bright career girl Joy, Richard Clarke had just the right amount of pomposity as Peter, the officious son of the family and Sarah Stanley simply soared as the slightly hippyish husband-obsessed vicar’s wife Gemma.

Into this cauldron of talent came Annette Phillips as the bereaved OAP Anna who far from being past it gave them all a fair-sized piece of her mind. Then she not only rejected their conventional plans for her but informed them of her new love life and described her new Florida condominium as well.

This gem of a play with its accomplished cast turned out to be the perfect warm-up for the second half of the programme, Stephen Dinsdale’s Anorak of Fire which went straight for the theatrical stratosphere.

By turns touching and wildly funny this is the tale of train-spotter Gus Gascoigne, a lad for whom the term ultimate nerd must have been coined, boasting about bunking off kindergarten at three to get to the railway station. He took us on a journey through the over-riding obsessions of his calling, from the all-night vigils with their crucial (for train-spotters) sound effects to the pre-occupation with numbers and miniature statistics, a genuine glimpse into someone else’s barmy but utterly convincing universe.

As the spotter Gus, Chris Buckle caught the exact nuances of a boy who can never quite become a man.

This is only his second non-musical theatre role – he debuted in Intimate Theatre’s Candida last year – but just once in a while a star is born, and that’s what happened here.

A wonderful Festival night. Bravo, to all concerned.