For his latest knock-about play, John Godber has turned his beady eyes on the hospitality industry - and what a smorgasbord he has found.

The setting is the anodyne Bagley Hall Hotel, set in 100 acres by the M62, and built on the backs of coal miners. The Venn function room is adorned with plastic plants, the balloons are deflating, the glitter ball is dead on the carpet and nondescript piano tunes drift through the air. Imagine an overgrown Fawlty Tours with its problems magnified.

The chef has just walked out, the venue is staffed almost entirely by temps who have 'no idea' (a line frequently uttered, along with 'sorry about that'), the front of house manager hates people, and the whole place is hopelessly overbooked.    

We see the evening unfold (or should I say implode) through the eyes of four members of  'the lower order', trying to cope. Godber gives us their life stories before getting down to business, so as we all know where they are coming from.

The versatile cast is excellent, the timing impeccable, and the numerous characters they play are painfully familiar.

Jade Farnill is the joyless Joy, a waitress who has never heard of Newcastle Brown Ale. Dylan Allcock plays Duncan, a 32-year-old student who spouts Shakespeare and needs the money. Levi Payne plays Lewis who does unspeakable things to the contents of a catering trolley before delivering the food. (Anyone who has has ever been suspicious of room service, should avert their gaze). And William Ilkley paints a highly empathic portrait of ex-miner Ronnie who is in his second, less dignified, career.

Let me focus on William Ilkley. This veteran actor has trod more boards than I've had cold buffets. For a start, he's given 500 performances of Godber's famous Bouncers. Here, he stretches himself again as the tyrannical head waiter surrounded by absolute numpties. He treads a very careful line, teetering on the edge of desperation bullying, but retaining the audiences affection.

The cast also break out into playing the hotel patrons. Ilkley becomes the past-it band leader who once supported Simply Red. Like countless bands all over the world, they arrive to fulfil a booking made 5 months ago only to find no-one has prepared. Again the actor reins back the venom, with the aid of a few prop reefers.

He also becomes the hotel owner, Sir Graham Crossley, presiding over a gathering of obnoxious, self-made business men. Here his portrait is of a dad-dancing, cigar-smoking capitalist; more concerned with cash than conservation. When their guest speaker, Francine Baxter (a smarmy cameo from Jade Farnill), taunts him about the lack of women in his management meetings, again he measures his response. We know he's fuming but he knows he must not show it. We later learn why.

John Godber turns over every stone in the hotel business. A highlight is the expertly crafted and quite frightening charity auction where well-fuelled guests find themselves obliged to bid for a prize they don't want. Levi Payne is brilliant in this. The sweat almost pours from his forehead as the bids for a 'meal for two' rise into 5 figures and he can't control his hand.   

Godber thumps a few familiar tubs - the miner's strike, the generation gap, sexism, and how 7% of people own 84% of wealth. But there are new causes to espouse in the characters' conversations. The death of music teaching in schools, Amazon, zero-hours contracts and the fact that Trump's tariffs are about to hit Hull. His supreme skill is to do all this with biting belly laughs. And for the first time, he turns to Matt Monro for his grand finale.

Four stars

Reviewed by Chris Eldon Lee at the New Vic Theatre, Newcastle-under-Lyme. John Godber's Black Tie Ball continues to show at the venue until Saturday 11 October.

Photo credit: Ian Hodgson