PARENTS make huge sacrifices for their children and none more so than Arthur and Grace Winslow when they hear that their young son has been accused of theft.

Their fight to clear their son, Ronnie, is at the heart of Terence Rattigan's powerful play, The Winslow Boy, which held everyone spellbound at Milton Keynes Theatre this week.

On paper it sounds a dry old tale, one the writer based on a true story, but it leaps off the page with righteous indignation and passion.

While its subject may be the simple story surrounding the theft of a five shilling postal order the principle goes to the essence of a civilised society obsessed by right, rules and fairness.

"A terrible injustice has been done and I am going to right it," says Ronnie's outraged father.

More than this The Winslow Boy is about sacrifice and how far every one of us is prepared to go for truth, justice and honour. In Edwardian times, when the play is set, honour and a family's reputation was all.

Ronnie, a 13-year-old naval cadet, is expelled from college after being found guilty of taking a pal's postal order, forging his signature and cashing it at the local post office.

Coming home in disgrace he eventually faces his terrifying father and is asked to tell the truth. The retired banker and father of three then launches a campaign to clear the boy's name, becoming obsessed with seeking justice.

It's a hard-fought, two year battle that has terrible implications for all the family and even the renowned barrister hired to fight Ronnie's corner.

The country is heading for World War One, a national miners' strike and war in Ireland but the Winslow case has become a cause célèbre and is even the subject of a heated debate in the House of Commons.

We have been incredibly spoilt at Milton Keynes Theatre recently by having the opportunity to see some of theatre's finest plays cast by some of our most eminent actors.

David Suchet in The Last Confession, Charles Dance in Shadowlands, who could forget McKellan and Stewart in Waiting For Godot, Simon Callow in Peter Shaffer's Equus, Neil Pearson in Chekhov's Uncle Vanya or the unforgettable production of Dickens' Nicholas Nickleby ?

The Winslow Boy is a classy addition to their illustrious ranks. The performance is as polished as you will see outside of the West End and we're honoured that it has stopped by for the week.

Veteran actor Timothy West is impressive as the family's patriarch, though perhaps, at 74, a little too old to have three such young children.

But he is every bit a modern father, berating his oldest son for playing his music too loud and not doing enough work, admires his daughter's strength, independence and political views, and dotes on his youngest, Ronnie.

West relishes Rattigan's dry wit and emotional posturing making him both a tiger and pussy cat to his dependent family.

Adrian Lukis is quite terrifying as KC Sir Robert Morton. Tall, intimidating and with a withering turn of phrase, he strikes abject fear into the heart of the young lad when he puts him through a mock cross examination. I'd have run a mile.

Perhaps it was my imagination but the actor appeared to have borrowed heavily from another great character of fiction who was also renowned for his intellectual prowess, supreme confidence and superciliousness, his ability to solve cases, and was capable of destroying a man's reputation with a curl of his lip. Where did the inspiration come from ? Elementary I'd have thought.

There appeared to be a spark of attraction with Winslow's suffragette daughter Kate (a fiery performance by Claire Cox). A meeting of intellects perhaps ? Given another Act we may have seen some happiness come from this bitter courtroom battle.

Was there a downside to this most elegant of productions ? It looked beautiful, Simon Higlett's set was a wash of creams and neutrals (until Lukis appeared in menacing, funereal black) and the women's costumes were to die for (especially Kate's scarlet outfit) but did someone forget to pay the electricity bill ?

Granted power was mainly by oil lamp in Edwardian times and this was very naturalistic but some of us in the stalls had trouble seeing the cast on this most subtly lit of stages. Could they make anything out in the circle?

The Winslow Boy ends its run on Saturday (July 11) at Milton Keynes. For tickets and information contact the box office 0844 871 7652 or go online www.ambassadortickets.com/miltonkeynes