WHAT madman puts on a Christmas comedy as summer begins to bloom?, you may well squawk.
The move to resurrect Night Collar comes after Canoeing For Beginners and Shed, the RC's last two productions. And laudible though they may have been, they were never going to box office blockbusters.
So, as it turns out, bringing Night Collar out from the wings is an inspired move.
Lovers of it - and their appear to be many - have been flocking to see Night Collar since it made its debut at the Playhouse Studio at the 1994 Liverpool Festival of Comedy.
Mr Woods' naked stammerer performance gave some a fit of packed-out press night, PC vapours
Written by former cabbies Jimmy Power and Tony Furlong - who died last August, aged 53 - it's drawn from their own experiences on the night shift cruising Liverpool's city's streets.
Set on Christmas Eve, we first meet The Driver, played by a superbly mealy-mouthed Alan Stocks looking a little like the grizzled Jeremy Clarkson, only in trackie bottoms and Adidas trainers.
From there, we are introduced to his twilight world via a 15 minute diatribe against all the fares he hates the most: the Walking Dead of Concert Square; Students; Wirralians from the "Dark Side Over The Water"; Actors; The Press and many of the other worst examples he is destined to encounter on this most un-Christian, un-Silent Night.
These are played by the batch of smart home grown talent that have become Court regulars: Eithne Browne, Jake Abraham, Suzanne Collins, Michael Ledwich and Lenny Wood.
Collar connoisseurs will be pleased to discover that all the old characters they play in smooth, quick change, interaction are intact: Scouse Elvis; Drunken Jock; Bad (Ass) Santa; Doe and Joe, Big Issue Seller, Wheelchair Mary etc. All of which could make it too much of a cozy OD of "all right, la" over-familiarity. But under Bob Eaton's direction it retains its edge with a updated exchanges such as: Distraught Fare: "Can You take us to our Mary's?"
The Driver: "Funny, I've just put 'our Mary's' in the satnav but nuthin's come up."
The agreeably simple narrative also allows space for some astutely comic acting that makes the two hours whisk by and has the stand-up feel of the old Best of Liverpool night at the Comedy Festival, only as mini sketches without the breaks of acts in between.
It may not be to everyone's taste: there's A LOT of swearing and those of a sensitive disposition should steer well clear during Mr Woods' naked stammerer performance which gave some a fit of packed-out Press Night PC vapours although others were left literally crying (and I mean it) with laughter.
Anyone unfamiliar with the Collar might guess this would come with the territory - it's about Liverpool, cabbies, their fares. And it's in your face.
Those factors, in the right hands, add up to loads of laughs - and bums on seats.
9/10
Night Collar runs until June 13. Tickets here
