Rebus Theatre Company performed two one-act plays by Alan Ayckbourn, plus a sketch adapted by Rena Bassar, at Shackleford Village Hall on July 26 and 27.

The packed performances raised more than £3,000 for Phyllis Tuckwell Hospice Care’s hospice rebuilding project.

The Ayckbourn pieces focused firmly on marital discord. In Mother Figure, Helen Wigram was perfectly cast as Lucy, the mum so accustomed to being with her small children - in the absence of her work-away husband - that she relates to others only as children.

Helen projected a wonderful air of school-marmish discipline, and Sara Wilson-Soppitt and Chris Deacon were delightful as concerned neighbours Rosemary and Terry as they fulfilled Lucy's view of them by morphing into squabbling brats.

In Between Mouthfuls, two couples dine in a restaurant and we soon realise that what we hear of their dialogue is only what the waiter hears as he moves between the tables. So the actor playing the waiter dictates the pace of the play; Ian Wilson-Soppitt got it exactly right.

As scandalous goings-on connecting the couples emerged, we hugely enjoyed Ian's understated reactions, and the contrast with his obvious exasperation at the diners' dithering over the menu. The diners carried off plausible conversations without uttering a word.

Nigel Dams stood in perfectly for the ill Jonathan Jones. Sue Gowar smouldered as his wronged wife, and Jo and Richard Weller delivered Ayckbourn's crisp dialogue to perfection.

Between the Ayckbourn plays, Richard Ashton was Adam, struggling with an automated phone answering system voiced by Sara Wilson-Soppitt. Richard's increasingly fraught performance delighted the audience, who recognised the frustrations of such systems.

In summary, Rebus's supremely talented ensemble delivered a brilliant evening's entertainment.

Barry Levy