A large ceiling fan spins lazily, and a moody saxophone wafts us to the Mississippi plantation of Big Daddy. It is his 60th birthday, and his two sons, with their wives, are there to help celebrate.

Gooper and Mae are fertile, with five young 'uns to show for it - and another on the way. Brick, the younger son, and Maggie have no children, and their relationship is in tatters. He is alcoholic and will have nothing to do with her; she is ambitious and greedy for money, life and children. As Big Daddy has terminal cancer - although the truth has been kept from him - the question of who will get the goodies is a burning one.

The first act focuses mainly on Maggie, who comes across as a scheming phoney with a lot of attitude. When we learn the reasons for Brick's turn-off, they seem perfectly rational. She has betrayed him with his best friend, whom she fatally damaged in the process. Her tawdry ambitions are not part of his make-up.

Big Daddy takes over in the second act, the strongest part of the play. He is a big man and an unrestrained tyrant. A redneck who made it rich, he is coarse, bullying and self-indulgent - but real. He strips away the self-deceptions that Brick uses as camouflage for his alcoholism and gets a dose of another truth in return. The truth does not, alas, make anyone whole, and even the possibility of a happy ending is founded on a lie.

This production is by the Keegan Theatre, a US company, and is solid rather than inspired. Susan Grevengoed, as Maggie, has a tendency to overact and embellish her colourful lines with physical and vocal flourishes; to play against the words might have been more rewarding. Brick is nicely taken by Mark A Rhea, who also directs, but the performance of the evening comes from Brian Hemmingsen, as Big Daddy, who opens the work out like an oyster.

Although Tennessee Williams's play now seems dated, it still makes for a satisfying evening's theatre.

Runs until September 8th; bookings at 01-4627477