Don't imagine for a minute that the Mod musical All Or Nothing at Dartford's Orchard Theatre (to Saturday) is one of those feel-good tales of 60s pop fluff.

True, you get a powerful live band bashing out classic tunes like Whatcha Gonna Do About It, Sha La La La Lee, Lazy Sunday and the psychedelic Itchycoo Park.

But this is also a hard-hitting play about the cut-throat world of showbusiness as it charts the tempestuous rise and fall of one of Britain's most underrated bands.

EastEnders' actress Carol Harrison, who wrote the show, directs it and even stars as Stevie Marriott's brassy mum Kay, wanted to portray the Small Faces' lead singer's life warts and all. And boy, that's what you get.

There is no denying that Stephen Marriott and his band of Ronnie Lane, Ian MacLagan and Kenney Jones gave the world plenty of pleasure. But the infighting and Marriott's unstoppable self-destruct button - which ended in his death in 1991 when fire swept through his home - left a bitter taste of wasted talent in this roller-coaster of emotion.

At one point his frustrated mother ponders that her son may have been "touched by the Devil" as he confides in her: "I killed it, Mum."

It's not all doom and gloom, though. There are a few laughs and a number of one-liners which lighten the mood. As the Small Faces morph into The Faces with a chap called Rod Stewart taking over vocals, Marriott ends up marrying Stewart's former girlfriend Jenny.

He quips, ruefully: "I got Rod Stewart's bird. But he got my band."

The show is presented on Rebecca's Brower's stark but effective set which doubles as Marriott's home, music shop, recording studio, TV studio and the band's digs at 22 Westmoreland Terrace, Pimlico.

It is narrated by Chris Simmons who plays the ghost of the dead Marriott looking back on his life and getting slowly more drunk. You may have seen him in EastEnders, Holby City and The Bill where he played DC Mickey Webb for more than 12 years.

The Small Faces are played by Samuel Pope (young Marriott), Stanton Wright (Ronnie Lane), Josh Maddison (Ian McLagan) and Stefan Edwards (Kenney Jones). All play their own instruments and sing.

Daniel Beales had fun with his triple role of Sonny (as in Cher), Tony Blackburn and word doctor Stanley Unwin; Joseph Peters was the flouncy Stones' manager Andrew Loog Oldham and Russell Floyd was the band's deliciously ruthless and conniving first manager Don Arden.

It seems unbelievable that, despite their hits, the lads began their contract on £20 a week and by the end of it had reached the dizzy heights of £60 a week.

The show boasts some stunning dancers in Daisy Darvill, Katie Faye and Fran Dearlove and excellent singing from Sophia Behn as Dusty Springfield and Melissa Brown-Taylor as PP Arnold.

It's worth the price of a ticket just for the encore of fab songs. On Monday the cast received a standing ovation.