If there was an Am Dram Olympics – now there’s a thought! – Bembridge Little Theatre Club would be challenging for a gold medal.

They say ‘the play’s the thing’, but going to the theatre is much more than that.

We need a welcoming atmosphere (tick), comfortable seats (three quarter tick!), an impressive and well put together set (tick), and sound and lighting that adds rather than subtracts (tick).

Add in mulled wine and mince pies, and the presence of two adorable dogs representing the charity the group supports this year – Ability Dogs for Young People: how could we not enjoy the play?

Laying The Ghost was written by the prolific Simon Williams, who has acted on stage, television and film.

His play is full of parts to die for: an appropriate phrase, since the play is set in the Yew Tree House retirement home for eccentric theatricals.

The cast of experienced Island theatricals revelled in it.

Maria Wilkinson aged up splendidly as Margot, reluctantly acknowledging her 70th birthday, while regularly topping up the swear box as her day took a distinctly unexpected turn. A challenging part handled beautifully.

Fiona Gwinnett transformed herself brilliantly, as always, into dotty Freda, who was obsessed with the shipping forecast and kept in regular contact with the spirit world – a skill which came in handy as the outrageous plot unfolded.

It’s not giving too much away at the end of the run to say that Ralph Edermaniger – aka Sir Leo Buchanan - died on stage. But the good news is he was meant to, and some of his best lines came after his demise.

Special mention, too, for Jane Roberts, who played the part of Lady Buchanan so well, playing the full range of emotions convincingly.

Julie Wilson made her debut in this production and shone with an accomplished performance as the other, other woman. We will see a lot more of her, I’m sure.

My sympathies were with the care assistant, Mrs Kidd, played with an appropriate level of patient suffering by Ronnie Petrossian.

And just to complete the chaos, we had an anagram playing a Superman kissagram: a nice touch to turn Barry Aspinall into a stud by the name of Balpyr Salrani.

It was a weird and wonderful story with a good blend of laughter and a few genuinely touching moments.

My only criticism is that the play was very wordy, and there were some moments where the action seemed to be dragging. A few judicious cuts might have made the difference.

Having said that, the director Diane Aspinall made the most of a zany script, and her actors expertly milked the humour and the pathos; all against the backdrop of the high standard set and impeccable costumes we’ve come to expect at Bembridge.

I’m sure Simon Williams would have loved it, and you can’t say fairer than that!