An eye-watering kick in the nuptials

Mrs Brown's Last Wedding ****
Edinburgh Playhouse

DESPITE a legacy that spans more than ten years – and in fact something of a fascinating back story that goes back to the 1960s – any reservations that you'll need to know anything about the leading lady's life or family to enjoy Mrs Brown's Last Wedding should be immediately discarded.

All you need to do with this show is sit back and enjoy it.

Well, it might be of interest that the title character is actually played by Brendan O'Carroll, and is based on his enormously popular Irish radio character and his first novel, The Mammy, which later became a film starring Angelica Huston.

The first part of this trilogy – the next instalment, Good Mourning Mrs Brown arrives at the Playhouse in September – sees Irish mother of five, Agnes Brown, trying to plan her son Trevor's (Danny O'Carroll) wedding. The only problem is he doesn't really want to get married and another son Dermot (Paddy Houlihan) does – and to the same girl, the somewhat posh Maria (Fiona O'Carroll). As if that isn't enough, the son that's already married, Mark (Martin Delaney) is in the process of breaking up with his wife while yet another son, Rory (Pat Shields), is trying to tell his mother that he's gay.

Attempting to bring some sort of sanity to the family unit – who are currently all living alongside their grandfather (Dermot O'Neill) – is Mrs Brown's divorced daughter and trainee psychologist Cathy (Jennifer Gibney).

Throw into the mix Rory's somewhat manic hairdresser boyfriend Dino (Gary Hollywood), hen and stag nights, a dinner party and a second toilet ("On-sweetie") being fitted under the stairs and it might, in some small part, explain why people had tears of laughter rolling down their cheeks for Mrs Brown's Edinburgh debut last night.

But for the most part, it was the razor-sharp dialogue, the fantastic put-downs and the simple fact that an old woman (or at least a man dressed as an old woman) swearing is absolutely hilarious. And, quite probably, the realisation that somewhere on a distant branch of the family tree, we've all got a relative like Mrs Brown.

The comedy just didn't let up, even when it wasn't supposed to be happening, with Brendan O'Carroll often unintentionally reducing the cast to fits of laughter with ad libs, or improvising when other members of the cast missed a cue. So much, in fact, that the first act ran over by 15 minutes.

The only slight niggle was the truly awful gay stereotypes of Rory and Dino, which worked in the context of the show but hopefully in real-life are more outdated than Mrs Brown's wedding outfit.

With every other word seemingly beginning with the letter f, the show's tag of 'not for the easily offended' was well deserved. Clearly, none of the mucky beggars that were in last night would be easily offended at all as they lapped it up.

The standing ovation that the cast received was, without a doubt, most certainly deserved. They could have gone on all night and it would be doubtful that even the Playhouse staff would have complained. Tell a friend immediately, Mrs Brown's in town, and roll on September!

• Run ends Saturday