CAMILLE'S central character, Marguerite Gautier, Paris' finest lady of the night, starts off as an almost perfect woman but rapidly declines to a pale shadow of what people expect of her.

But Lyric Hammersmith Theatre's production of the play -- at The Grand -- made almost the reverse journey on Tuesday night.

The first act was a disappointment. Given the pedigree of the cast and company, it was a shame to the cast dealing in bawdy word play and gags which -- though probably not far from the reality of the world being portrayed and which certainly had the audience giggling -- didn't really convince.

The story of Camille requires light and shade, but up to the interval the characters came across as seriously unlikable beings, hardly worth the sympathy we were going to be asked to give them later.

The second act started with the crude intervention of narrator Armand Duval's father, who sacrifices Duval's happiness for the reputation of his family.

From there, the play got deeper, darker and, let's not beat about the bush, much, much more watchable.

This act focused on Marguerite's grotesque friends, Armand's caring but misguided father and, most of all, leads Armand (played by a convincingly naive Elliot Cowan) and Marguerite (Daniela Nardini).

The glossy sheen of upper class decadence was stripped away and light cast on the darkest corners of what previously seemed to be almost perfect lives.

Camille, though, wasn't perfect. During the first act, in particular, the action felt rushed -- perhaps one of the pitfalls of adapting a novel of any length into a stage play.

Also there never seemed to be any clear sense of why Armand and Marguerite were so hopelessly and tragically in love -- the spark wasn't quite there.

Still, Daniela Nardini, the Grand's poster girl this season, did the most important part of her evening's work brilliantly. She captured perfectly Marguerite's rapid decline from beautiful working girl to a delirious shadow of her former self -- pining for her lost love, at the mercy of thieving friends and with only her faithful maid (Sakuntala Ramanee) by her side.

A special mention here for Ramanee, who also spent much of the evening lugging chairs around the single, cleverly used set.

All in all, an entertaining night out and a chance to see a fine cast and a little of the unexpected.