Welcome to our fortnightly feature on amateur dramatics in Oxfordshire with me, RICHARD WILSON. There are a wealth of talented theatre groups in the county and we intend to give you the lowdown on what they have in store. Any groups who would like to have their production mentioned

It’s always tricky moving in to live with someone. Spending more time with a person brings their personality into closer focus and, upon inspection, you might not like what you find.

Little quirks that were entertaining in small doses can become infuriating when there’s no way to escape from them.

What’s worse, your friend may also find things they dislike about you. Minor disagreements can blow up into full-on confrontations.

Clashing personalities is the crux of the humour in the latest production by the Banbury Cross Players, who are performing the classic comedy The Odd Couple at the Mill Arts Centre this week.

The most famous interpretation of the tale is the 1968 film starring Jack Lemmon and Walter Matthau, but this stage play has a twist.

This is the female version, with the central conflict between the slovenly Olive and the fastidious Florence – because, as we all know, gender is no barrier when it comes to starting petty arguments.

“It’s very much similar, with all of the humour that Neil Simon brought to the original script,” says Linda Shaw, who plays Sylvie – a mutual friend of the two protagonists.

“Olive is a slovenly kind of character who regularly has her friends over for a girls’ night out, to eat, drink and play Trivial Pursuit. One night one of the girls is missing – Florence – so they call her and discover she has split up from her husband.

“Olive takes pity on her and, against the advice of her friends, invites her to move in. The comedy comes in the fact that Florence is completely different to her – she has almost an obsessive compulsive character.

“There’s a breakdown in their relationship as they battle against each others’ personalities.”

There are more laughs later on in the play when Olive attempts to set herself and Florence up with two of their neighbours.

Linda says: “Olive tries to set up a date with the two Spanish brothers from upstairs. There’s a hilarious scene when they come down to dinner.

“Despite the fact they have lived in the country for some time, the two brothers haven’t quite got the hang of English yet. A lot of humour comes from their confusion with the language.

“There are several characters who pop in and out of Olive’s home, but the play is dominated by the central relationship between the two friends.”

The adaptation was created by original writer Neil Simon almost 20 years after the hit film came out in cinemas and fans should have fun seeing how things have changed along with the gender switch. In fact, the revised script came about simply because the fans demanded it – he had so many requests to write a female-centric script that he caved into the pressure.

The Players decided to set the play in the time it was written and research was carried out to make sure they matched the period.

Director Liz Riley says: “We have enjoyed trawling our personal archives of photographs to see what we were wearing and doing with our hair back in the 1980s. “We’ve even devoted rehearsal time to reminding ourselves of the rules of Trivial Pursuit! ’Girl Power’ 1980s style is very much the order of the day.”

The play promises to be poignant as well as funny – especially if you find yourself recognising frustrations within your own friendships on the stage.

SEE IT The Odd Couple opened yesterday at the Mill Arts Centre but tickets are still available. The curtains rise at 7.45pm up to Saturday. Tickets are available from the Mill Box Office at 01295 279 002 or at themillarts centre.co.uk