Rodney Trotter from Only Fools And Horses is dead. His creator, Nicholas Lyndhurst, is burying him at the Theatre Royal in Brighton this week.

Lyndhurst begins the last rites to the young Trotter by taking on the title role in Oscar-winning writer Ronald Harwood's play, The Dresser.

Here he plays the greying, camp factotum to Sir, an ageing actor/manager taking his Shakespearean theatre company around Britain during the dark days of the Second World War.

And, while killing off his television alter ego, Lyndhurst also proves a powerful rival to Joan Collins as a bitch, both loving and loathing the man he has served for the past 16 years.

It is a role Lyndhurst obviously relishes and he sizzles in it. The sardonic humour is impeccably done and he delivers Harwood's script to perfection.

Harwood, who won his Oscar for the screenplay to The Pianist, gives us a fine study of suppressed emotions coming to a head as the utterly exhausted Sir (Julian Glover) reaches breakdown point in what is to be the last performance of his life, as King Lear.

This is a highly claustrophobic piece, set in the dressing room and wings of a seedy theatre. You can smell the sweat and the fear, the rotting costumes assault the nose and there is a prevailing air of wartime shortages as well as constant danger from German air raids.

It is essentially a two-hander for Lyndhurst and Glover, and both overcome the haunting memory of Tom Courtenay and Albert Finney in the screen version. Glover becomes the bitter actor/manager hoping against hope he can still perform the great Shakespearean roles and knowing his company has to consist only of the lame, the old and the second-rate.

He exudes the horror of an actor who knows lesser men have received high honours which he will never know. He is a man at the end of his tether and his plight is palpable. It is a withering but winning performance.

But it is Lyndhurst who dominates with his bitchiness, his fawning and constant chatter about "friends" and how they have overcome problems, as he tries to coax Sir into one more performance.

The Dresser is a solid piece which will move you to both laughter and tears. In a strong autumn season, it stands out as a perfect night out at the theatre.