THE successful West End production of Donkeys' Years, Michael Frayn's farce, arrives on a major national tour with an all-star cast including Sara Crowe, Ian Lavender and Norman Pace at The Mayflower this autumn.

Donkeys' Years was a huge triumph when it originally opened in London at the Globe Theatre (now the Gielgud Theatre) in 1976, winning the Olivier Award for Best Comedy.

Its 2006 critically-acclaimed season ran for a sell-out nine months and received three Olivier Award nominations including Best Revival, as well as receiving rapturous press acclaim.

The production stars Sara Crowe (film: Four Weddings and A Funeral, theatre: UK tour of Acorn Antiques), Peter Forbes (theatre: Mamma Mia, Black Watch), Mark Hadfield (theatre: The Lion King, Thérèse Raquin), Ian Hallard (TV: Where The Heart Is, Miss Marple), Richard Hope (TV: Midsomer Murders, theatre: A Prayer For Owen Meany), Ian Lavender (TV: EastEnders, Dad's Army), Jamie Newall (theatre: Eden's Empire, A Touch Of The Sun), Norman Pace (TV: The Hale and Pace Show, Theatre: Chicago) and Patrick Ryecart (film: Heart Of Darkness, TV: The High Life).

Twenty-five years after graduation, six former students return to their Oxbridge college for a reunion dinner.

While their lives may have had varying degrees of success, all are connected by a common past.

Once locked in their old college for the night, the graduates begin to relive their youth, and old friendships, feuds - and the much-desired but absurdly proper Master's wife - come tumbling back into the present.