BUSINESS Affairs, currently at the Garrick Playhouse, leaves the audience gobsmacked with its twists and turns as John Chapman and Jeremy Lloyd’s farce has them in stitches.

John Chidgey, the director, moulds it into a fast moving, well-timed masterpiece.

In it, the wives of two owners of a failing haulage business, Stanley and Norman, inadvertently become ladies of the night to please two European businessmen who are supposed to be buying their husbands’ failing business.

The reason is that Kurt (Matthew Foster) and Sven (Nick Lowe) will only conclude the deal if their request for dubious female company is agreed to.

The purchasers are delightfully over the top and both have appropriate foreign accents and an obsession with sex.

Then the sellers’ wives turn up only to be mistaken for the real call girls who don’t, and chaos reigns.

The escalation of the fun is down to Sarah Reilly’s Hilda and Kim Armston’s Rose as the characters get more and more in the mire.

The arrival of the real pros comes in a well orchestrated scene immediately before the interval.

Lindsey Barker’s Sabrina and Emma Turner’s Valerie have a roving eye for the gentlemen and the chaos builds up even further.

The expressions of Jonathan Black’s Stanley and Mike Shaw’s Norman during these moments, add to the fun.

The cast are all equally good in this snappy, well-written farce.

• Business Affairs is at Altrincham Garrick Playhouse until Saturday. For tickets, telephone 0161 928 1677 or book online

Star rating: * * * *