A NIGHT out watching women pole dancing hasn't ever been in my top ten Saturday evening plans, but I was glad of the change of routine when I saw The Naked Truth at the Grand Theatre.

With a line-up of former soap stars, this hilarious play comes from the writer of Girls' Night Out, which went down a storm nationwide a few years ago.

Set in a pole dancing class, The Naked Truth follows six very different women as they struggle with their everyday lives.

As their stories unfold, they share laughter and tears in what is often a very moving show.

When it started I have to admit I did wonder if I was going to enjoy the show - some of the cast seemed to be over-acting a little, and some of the jokes were a bit obvious.

However, I quickly got caught up in the story and was swept away with the rest of the audience (which contained surprisingly more men than I had imagined it would).

It's always a good sign if you can empathise with characters in a play, and that was certainly the case here.

When one of the friends (played excellently by Pauline Fleming, previously of Coronation Street), announced she had breast cancer, you could almost hear a collective intake of breath from the audience, who from that moment on were rooting for her as her confidence grew.

Although Lisa Riley was probably the most high profile actress on the stage - and certainly got most of the laughs for her bawdy humour and defence of the larger lady - for me it was ex-Brookside star Sarah White, who played the gobby Rita, who stole the show.

Much like her character in the Channel 4 soap, she had some great one-liners