Driving Miss Daisy

Rarely do theatregoers get to enjoy such legendary acting talent as inhabits the stage in this must-see production of Driving Miss Daisy.

Not a lot happens in Alfred Uhry's play that begins in 1948 and works its way through to the '70s, though the civil-rights movement hovers in the background. Instead the play lets the relationship between Angela Lansbury's crotchety old Miss Daisy and her ever affable chauffeur, played with a childlike glee by James Earl Jones, gently develop through the small moments that we all share with the people in our lives.

With more than 120 years' acting experience between them, it's an absolute delight to watch Lansbury and Jones knock this one out of the park. Though mention must also be made of the only other actor in the production, Boyd Gaines, who plays Daisy's son Boolie. At the beginning of the play, the four-time Tony Award winner is the glue that holds the two characters together and over the course of the hour and a half, Gaines hits just the right tone of muted frustration but also love that Daisy inspires in him.

Understandably the set is a simple one. There is no car, just a couple of chairs and a steering wheel but when the acting is this good, the audience doesn't need to see a car to believe it's there.

Theatre Royal, to Sunday 31 March.