Tony McNamara’s latest offering isn’t so much an accurate retelling of the story of Catherine the Great as it is a fun romp with characters that happen to have similar names and backgrounds to historical people. The bare factual bones are there; a young naïve noblewoman marries a breathtakingly immature monarch, does a bit of book-learnin’ and after a successful coup drags Russia kicking and screaming into the Age of Enlightenment. McNamara plays fast and loose with the facts, fleshing them out with a fanciful and somewhat bawdy tale that is immensely entertaining from start to finish.

As young Catherine, the winsome Robin McLeavy traces her evolution from naïve girl to savvy politician with poise. Her wry performance provides anchorage for the dangerous lunacy of her husband, Toby Schmidt’s Peter. Schmidt’s performance is reminiscent of a young Rik Mayall – in Act One he’s all Lord Flashheart from Blackadder. In Act Two, as Catherine’s son, he tones it down just a touch as Rik from The Young Ones era. He’s completely over the top and hilarious, everything you could want in a spoilt, barking mad ruler.

Rather than have the audience witness the coup, McNamara prefers to throw up the contrasts between youthful exuberance and the burdens and responsibilities that come with maturity. Hence the leap of 25 years between the two Acts, with older Catherine (played with stately earthiness by Liz Alexander) dealing with the machinations of her two children (McLeavy and Schmidt reincarnated).

While older Catherine has achieved much politically, her personal struggles are hangovers from her youthful exploits –the new characters are played by the same actors from Act One, and there is a clockwork inevitability of the revolving set and Alan John’s sugar-plum music-box soundtrack. The costumes and set design, by Tess Schofield and Fiona Crombie are a lush blend of noble refinement and peasant folksiness, evoking the era tinged with a hint of Brothers Grimm.

Catherine’s court is furnished with a number of remarkable characters, brought to life by a superb cast. Nicholas Bell projects a brittle authority as both the older Orlo (Catherine’s confidant and ally) and the nasty Archbishop who haunts her youth. His performance as the older Orlo is in complete sympathy with that of the younger, played by Matthew Moore. Moore’s Orlo is hesitant and uncertain, echoes of which appear in Bell’s older, more assured incarnation. Another standout performance is Mandy McElhinney as the maid Angeline. She stays mainly in the background, but when she is called on she is a shining example of plain peasant common sense with a sinister touch of slightly evil Victorian housekeeper.

McNamara peppers The Great with healthy doses of foul language and jokes, doesn’t shy away from Catherine’s sex life (which didn’t, needless to say, involve horses), and basically brings the legend of the great monarch down to a human level. He does this without taking away from her achievements, instead showing her struggles as both internal and external. And it’s bloody funny. Go and see it.