alan ayckbourn only major stage to screenplay ( to date ) be muck up with a lot of tricky camera work and open up like a cancer patient and stray far off the path set by an excellent stager re represent newcomer disrupt a provincial troupe stag john gay opera on proverbial shoestring . fine effort by tony hopkins a transplanted welshman director but to no avail . film center on stag play ( noise off and of note ) rarely hit the mark and this be no exception . i will keep my memory of the royal national theatre production and try to forget this plodding mess . bury it with flick beyond therapy and another stager go wrong for a wonderful stage scribe .