There's either a Churchill convention on or a lot of Mel Smith fans in town - how else to explain the queues around the block for Allegiance, in which Smith plays Churchill?

Unless, of course, it has something to do with all that publicity accrued from Smith's stated intention to flout the smoking ban by lighting up a stogie on stage (he doesn't).

As for the play, it's pretty conventional drawing-room fare; as solid as Churchill but not as inspiring. Written by Mary Kelly, it's based on a meeting in 1921 between Churchill and IRA firebrand Michael Collins (Michael Fassbender) in Churchill's home in Hyde Park. At the time Collins was, in all but name, leader of the Irish delegation for the Anglo-Irish peace talks.

Kelly's play has the men circling each other, passionately arguing their cases as the chill thaws over drinks. Collins argues for independence, Churchill presses for Ireland to accept the compromise of dominion status, thereby providing allegiance to the Crown and security for Britain.

Smith is convincing enough as Churchill and avoids impersonation. The play attempts to redress perceptions of him as a bombastic imperialist bullyboy. It succeeds, in part, though his love of empire is clear.

But to suggest, as the play does, that this meeting alone led to the creation of the Irish Free State is to disregard other political manoeuvring at the time. That said, with a narrator filling in the historical gaps, Allegiance provides plenty of jaw jaw to chew on.

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