After a couple of disappointing dramas, which floundered under the weight of their ambition, theatre bosses have opted for something completely different and come up trumps.

Each night the same cast of improv actors welcome a different mystery guest, quizzing them about their lives before turning key moments into frequently funny and sometimes touching skits - think This is Your Life meets Whose Line is it Anyway?

On Thursday, the subject was actor Kerry Shale, a less grumpy, better groomed version of Curb Your Enthusiasm's Larry David.

He made for good company as he talked about everything from his earliest memory, wearing an itchy toreador outfit, to meeting his wife through a telephone dating service after being stood up by a lingerie model.

For most of the show, Shale sits to one side of the stage being interviewed, with the host breaking off occasionally to allow the cast to act out formative events like his first kiss and his transition to a new school.

We see him as gauche youngster, falling for his dad's trick 'penis mug', and later being chased by high school bullies trying to throw him into a sewage-filled ditch known as The Pollute.

Shale never appears as himself but plays along gamely, stepping in as, among other characters, his old high school teacher, the uncle who inspired him to become an actor and even the registrar who married him.

His turn as his uncle, appearing to his young self in a dope-induced vision, is one of the funniest moments of the night.

But as a taste of what the evening's all about, perhaps the most illuminating scene is when his dad finally ditches the toupe he's worn for 50 years.

The cast re-imagine the moment as an emotional farewell, set to a heartwrenching ballad, with the aforementioned hairpiece slowly walking away - a perfect example of how the team turn seemingly innocuous events into high, but still very funny, drama.

Despite never delving too deep into his psyche, the cast succeed in making you think of Shale almost as an old friend by the time the curtain falls.

Lifegame may not be big, or particularly clever, but it doesn't take itself too seriously and is frequently very funny, which makes for a winning combination.