Delightfully chaotic, warm and crazy, the Torch Youth Theatre’s production of The Bangers and Chips Explosion had the all-age audience laughing from beginning to end.

The play had wonderful characters and strong performances: from the tearful outbursts of the hapless headmistress to the maniacal laughter of the horrible Mrs Gunge, and the gleeful villainy of the lithe Cyanide Sid.

The play’s narrative structure revealed Brough Girling’s witty way with words and made for extra humour when characters interacted with the narrators - for instance during the equipping of the resourceful Mrs Perkins.

The children’s teamwork was tangible throughout; an unscripted highlight being the hasty recovery after a bungled line elicited a mild expletive! It was real; it was funny; it was nice.