I am sure there was a cumulative hot flush when an enthusiastic audience of ladies – with the odd brave gent – enjoyed a one-night-only performance of a musical aimly firmed at ladies of a certain age. Hot Flush! stars comedy stalwart Lesley Joseph, best known as Dorien in TV’s Birds of a Feather, in this funny and, in places, hysterically near-the-knuckle portrayal of the life and times of four fifty-something friends all having a mid-life crisis.

Joseph plays divorce barrister Myra who is hitting the vodka in a bid to cope with her rampant hormones and her hubbie’s dumping her for a big-breasted bimbo. Then there’s Sylvia (Hilary O’Neil), who is given to wearing low tops, short skirts and bedding young men to compensate for her boring marriage – her latest conquest being Myra’s 18-year-old son!

Clean-living Jessica (Ruth Keeling) has the finer things in life, but her husband spends most of his time in the shed and she spends most of hers fighting off the unwanted attentions of the vicar. Finally, there is widow Helen (Anne Smith) who is trying to rebuild her life while coping with her hot flushes and an 18-year-old daughter who goes to university, meets a guy, marries him and gets pregnant – all in quick succession.

And so the scene is set for lots of laughs, raunchy jokes, blatant innuendo, jolly songs with witty lyrics and, surprisingly, some pretty poignant observations of middle-aged marriage and motherhood. Any lady of a certain age couldn’t fail to identify with the trials and tribulations of this lot, myself and my friend of similar age included. We found ourselves laughing loudly, but it says something for this production that it was so well-observed that a couple of times it actually brought a tear to the eye.

Disappointment of the evening – the audience gave a collective groan when it was announced – was that TV heartthrob Sam Kane would not be on stage that night. He was taken ill just before the performance. In his place was Phillip Andrew who slipped into a variety of roles and guises portraying all the men in the lives of the four women.

Denise Barkley