NOW A SELL-OUT PLAY: OUR LADIES OF PERPETUAL SUCCOUR

The choir from Our Lady of Perpetual Succour School for Girls is being bussed to the national finals in the big, big city. And it''s an important day for The Sopranos - Orla, Kylah, (Ra)Chell, Amanda Konky and Fionnula (the Cooler) - pub-crawling, shoplifting and body-piercing being the top priorities. Then it''s time to lose that competition - lose, because a nuclear sub has just anchored in the bay and, tonight, the Man Trap disco will be full of submariners on shore-leave. There is no time for delays. . .

But after the fifth bottle of alco-pop up the back of the bus it''s clear that all is not going to plan, for anyone. The Sopranos are never going to be the same.

''Compassionate and riotously funny. It is a long time since I read a novel which had me rocking with laughter'' -The Times