MISALLIANCE Orange Tree Theatre

Bernard Shaw’s plays are often criticized for being all talk and no action. But who cares when the talk is so brilliant and such fun. Misalliance, directed by Paul Miller and excellently acted, is a witty, freewheeling debate about the impossible gulf between parents and children, the parents emerging just as foolish as their offspring, though much nicer. A Polish acrobat drops in – literally, her aeroplane having crashed into the conservatory. She drives all the men crazy. A young clerk also turns up, waving a revolver, wanting to revenge his mother’s shame and vent his socialism. Strongly recommended.