THE wild party that followed the end of The Great War came to be known as The Roaring Twenties as people partied as hard as they could to escape from the long shadow the war had cast over them.

But the frivolity and glamour was barely skin deep and underneath the gaiety there were darker forces at work, forces explored in Noel Coward's The Vortex, running at Malvern Theatres until Saturday, February 17.

Florence Lancaster is a woman past her prime, still beautiful, still capable of attracting the attention of a man half her age, but underneath her giddy painted surface lies desperation and a refusal to look herself squarely in the mirror. Talk of glamours parties, first nights and house parties leads, as the action moves to Flo's country house, to an emotionally searing encounter between Florence and her grown-up son, Nicky, just back from Paris where he has clearly been leading a life even more decadent than that he returns to, with a fiancee, Bunny Mainwaring in tow.

The atmosphere in the drawing room is paradoxically both febrile and languid, the tension building as Nicky arrives home unexpectedly and, even more unexpectedly, introduces Bunty, and they begin the descent into the vortex of beastliness'.

Felicity Kendall plays Florence Lancaster to perfection - her portrayal of a woman apparently at the heart of a social carousel hitting exactly the right note, but this is a Felicity Kendall we know and love. It is as the mood darkens and she is driven to the edge that her power as an actress is allowed free rein and she runs an extraordinary range of emotions in one shattering scene with Nicky, a performance from Dan Stevens that brings a convincing intensity to the role.

The Vortex plays at Malvern Theatres until Saturday, February 17.