It’s quite a leap from the hilarity of Jeeves & Wooster to the thought-provoking Home by David Storey but the Company of Ten carries it off with aplomb.

Their current production in the Abbey Theatre Studio is about as far removed from last month’s offering, Jeeves & Wooster, as two plays can possibly be.

Instead of the hilarious story recounted by Bertie Wooster with a bit of help from his friends, we have four people who appear, at first, to be whiling away the time in a garden which only gradually reveals itself to be in some kind of institution, particularly when the fifth person appears.

First up are the fastidious and benign Harry and the chattier Jack with his tales of umpteen relatives and what they have done.

So far so ordinary but as their conversations develop there is a sense that they are not in any old garden but somewhere entirely different.

That perception becomes even clearer when Kathleen and Marjorie appear in the garden. Flirty Kathleen suffers with her feet while Marjorie is cynical and not afraid to say so.

The women are far more stock comedic characters than the men – and the play needs the lightness they bring – but by the time the quartet really come together, this member of the audience at least was completely hooked.

For while their conversation appears completely inconsequential at times, it says a lot about the human condition in both a sad yet comic way.

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And it leaves you wanting to know more about why they are in what is presumably a mental institution about which little hints are given along the way.

Home is directed by Rosemary Goodman and it takes some skill to take on a play which really has no storyline. But as she has shown many times in the past, she is more than up for the challenge.

In Tim Hoyle as Harry and Dewi Williams as Jack, she has two actors completely in tune with their roles even though Dewi, a Company of Ten stalwart of many years standing, needed the reassurance of a script to hand at times. Despite that his pedigree as an actor shone through.

Jacqui Golding as Kathleen and Cassandra Fothergill as Marjorie captured the essence of their characters and were totally believable as two women of a certain age and type from the seventies.

The cast was completed by Danny Smith as Alfred, at first a threatening figure but soon revealed to be nothing of the sort.

Home brings the Company of Ten season to an end on a high note. It runs until this Saturday, July 8, and further information and tickets can be found at the website www.abbeytheatre.org.uk.