It was double, double toil and trouble for the first of Pint Size Production's comedy plays at Lounge last week as 'The Witches of Prestwick' left little to the imagination.

In fact, the Largs restaurant was transformed into a cauldron of laughter, as three women rehearse for their upcoming parts as witches in Macbeth. One of the joys of these plays is that there is a strong element of risque humour and when Bev (played by Maggie Telfer) announced on stage that it certainly was not 'Breadsticks and Broomsticks', she was not far wrong!

In the quest for the 'perfect man', the wannabe witches played by Maggie, Fiona Carruthers and Stephanie Caldwell start to dabble with magic spells to hilarious effect, using all sorts of ingredients from marziphan and bees wax, and the end result ... well let's just say it left all the ladies in something of a lather!

Rehearsals take a turn when they decide to dabble in real spells and suddenly there is a knock at the door. Is that really just a man selling vacuum cleaners at the door or have they unwittingly conjured up the devil incarnate himself?

The door to door salesman, is played by Jon Wilkin, who certainly revelled in his role, as he got a chance to show off his accessories to the ladies, with an extended hose that reached all the way to the top of the stairs.

Anyway, there were more double entrendres in the script by Joe Graham than a double bill of Carry-On movies, with plenty of side-splitting gags, and the hynpotic fear of whether the salesman was indeed Satan himself as the ladies all managed to throw themselves at a disgusted/delighted Jon Wilkin! The play, directed by Laura Archbold, was devilishly good.

If the first play was risque, then "Cracks on the Beach" about a newspaper editor's campaign against a nudist beach was outrageously funny and was no holds barred.

Directed by Calum McVittie, full credit must also go to the cast of Matt Wilkin playing the prim and proper chief editor of the daily news in the town of Brisburn, while Kim Margery stepped up to the mark as the delectable chairman of the local naturalism society. As the fight intensfies between the newspaper and the ' Nazi Nudists', the campaign is taking to the streets of Brisburn from old folks' homes to local bars.

The supporting cast of Miles Schofield and Isobel Kell played community councillors to night club dancers and bouncers at the local nite spot Jugglers.

There was a lot of roleplaying as all four cast members set the scene of Brisburn which had more than a few alarmingly close references to Largs!

Praise must also be given to Largs Youth Theatre supremo Andrew McGregor's excellent and satirical script which was bundled with hilarious nods to the local area, and poked good natured fun at all sorts of characters of local life.

Some of the slapstick humour was also superb from the editor collapsing upon hearing that a nudist colony was moving to the town, to a hilarious strip scene with only a newspaper to cover his modesty!

All in all, both plays of the 'Pint, a Pie, and a Play' series had just the right blend of cutting edge humour, crazy antics, and laugh out loud moments to guarantee another successful venture for the local theatre group.

* Lighting and sound by DAG Lighting and Alistair Archbold.