There was a packed house for the first night of Reject Revenge's latest - and possibly last - major production.
It's been widely publicised that the Liverpool theatre company looks set to become a victim of the Arts Council's swinging blade.
It is one of nearly 200 companies nationwide which have been listed to lose their financial backing.
So do as the audience did last night and get along to see this inventive and irresistible company while you still can - and keep your fingers crossed for a last minute reprieve.
I've reviewed Here Be Monsters in today's Echo so I won't repeat myself here.
Suffice to say I was entertained enough to give it an eight......and to hope myself the enthusiastic joie de vivre of the Rejects isn't crushed forever.
Much as I enjoy the big budget and big headline productions (who can't wait for Pete Postlethwaite to do his stuff as Lear?!), I also cherish the eccentric, the eclectic and the plain silly that make up this great theatre tradition of ours in Britain.
So I salute the silliness of Rejects Revenge, the desire to make us all laugh and think a little at the same time, and I put out my small, but personal, appeal to the Arts Council in this, European Capital of Culture year, to fight for these theatre companies and cherish - not spurn - them.
