Comedy (Nurse/Bedhead)

A star cast gets into bed together for this play by Jim Cartwright that deals with insomnia, growing old and death.

A retired sea captain (Lionel Jeffries) is compelled to go into an institution. In his dreams he joins the "Sleep Club" where he finds himself in bed with all the other residents, including June Brown ("Dot Cotton" in EastEnders).

Above them all gazes the spiteful face of the Bed Head (Richard E Grant) who, driven mad by his insomnia, pours abuse on the inhabitants of the bed.

"Bed Head is the patron saint of insomnia," explains Richard. "He embodies pure malevolence although, to be fair, if we could never go to sleep, we‚d get a bit short-tempered too."

The play is both surreal, and a meditation on growing old and dying.

Jim Cartwright has won the Olivier Award and Evening Standard Drama Awards for Best Comedy in 1992 and has written many plays, including The Rise And Fall of Little Voice, which was made into the film Little Voice starring Jane Horrocks.

Best REG line: