Review: Comedy: Waiting to Inhale Theatre Royal, Stratford East, London

Many people would rather read the UK Independence Party manifesto without anaesthetic than go in for audience participation. But not at the Theatre Royal, Stratford East, where the audience is often the star of the show. The biggest cheers of the night at Waiting to Inhale, Geoff Schumann's comic report from the frontline of the battle of the sexes, were reserved for scene-stealing hecklers.

When Schumann, who conceived this revue show as a response to the female- bonding in films like Waiting to Exhale, was simultaneously ditched by the girlfriends he was two-timing in one sketch, a waggish woman in the audience piped up: "Go and get your P45, then."

The whooping and hissing of goodies and baddies lent the evening an air of a pantomime - but it was all the better for it. You couldn't help but get drawn into the joyously gladiatorial atmosphere.

The show ran the risk of being tagged sexist. In his opening spiel, Schumann, like some over-the-top version of Gary Glitter, urged us to call him "Leader" and warned against a sinister female conspiracy: "Men, we need each other. Our enemies are here. We're always getting kicked."

He went on to sound off about the convention that obliges men to pay for an evening with no guarantee of nookie at the end of it. As we prepared for the interval, he advised the males in the audience: "Don't let them pressure you in the bar. If they really are Nineties women, they'll have more than 90 pence. Let them buy you a drink."

But Schumann may have just about managed to ward off the threat of feminist pickets thanks to his end-of-show announcement that "this is my comical story. I don't really hold those views about women. All those women here, give yourselves a round of applause."

Also, even his most questionable material was delivered with a winning smile, and potential offensiveness was offset by the fact that many of the jokes were at the expense of the blokes. In one sketch, the girlfriend of the slobbish, selfish Schumann character walked out on him - to tremendous cheers - and he was left with only a blow-up dolly for company. In another, Schumann invited a woman he fancied out on a date. As they exited, she muttered in an aside to the audience: "I wonder if I should tell him I used to be a man."

Schumann possesses a stage presence as huge as his frame. (He says one of his ambitions is to stop being mistaken for the guy on the front of the Uncle Ben's rice packet.) He has created a vibrant, thought-provoking, if occasionally beyond-the-knuckle show, well acted by himself, Sandra Bee, Ninia Benjamin, and Wayne Rollins, and neatly staged by Angie Le Mar. People should be queuing up to say: "Take me to your Leader."

To 17 May. Booking: 0181-534 0310