THE script is not far short of a century old, but this production of Noel Coward’s Fallen Angels is one of the fastest-paced and funniest nights at the theatre you could wish for.

The plot was considered scandalous when Coward wrote it in 1925. Two women, in comfortable but unexciting marriages, learn that a Frenchman with whom each of them had a love affair in their unmarried days is visiting London. If he turns out to be interested in romance, neither of them is confident they can resist the temptation.

With their husbands away, the pair wrestle with their consciences as they await their ex-lover’s call. They veer between determination to send him away and the desire to welcome him in, and they go from supporting each other to bickering, in the course of an evening in which they down a little too much champagne.

Coward wrote two great roles here for women, and Victoria Porter and Kirsty Cox are superb as the panicking friends. They fire the playwright's witticisms at each other at full pelt and command the stage with their physical comedy too.

There is a terrific supporting performance as well, from Hepzibah Roe as a maid who can be a bit too clever for her employers' comfort.

The London Repertory Players have updated the setting from 1925 to 1962, but this is classic Coward, performed without a slack moment under director Richard Mullins. The first night audience delivered its verdict in a particularly enthusiastic wave of cheering and applause.

Fallen Angels runs until Saturday.