Brandon Thomas’s play Charley’s Aunt has been a perennial favourite since its premiere in 1892. Although the premise – lovestruck young men needing a chaperone to be able to propose to their intended brides – may not be relevant to a contemporary audience, much of the humour still survives.

The central role of Lord Fancourt Babberley is carried off enthusiastically by Tobias Clay. Forced to spend most of the play inelegantly impersonating an aged aunt, and manipulating his elderly would-be suitors (the dapper Mike Skinner and Harry Atkinson) while gasping for a drink and a cigar, his waspish asides and petulant fan-fluttering underline the character’s subversive behaviour.

As the eager young suitors, Jonah York and Robert Stuart establish a great double-act, frogmarching “Babs” back into position and humorously popping their heads around curtains.

Director Ann Atkins musters her cast around the stage and in and out of the doors with alacrity, although their delivery of the lines is sometimes rather rushed.

The set dressers provide some lovely props, from a voluminous carpetbag full of stolen champagne to an antique rocker blotter on a writing desk. Tom Williams’s set design made the Little Theatre space seem an appropriate size for an undergraduate’s room – even when the entire cast were onstage, it didn’t seem overcrowded.

Special mention should also go to performers in some of the smaller roles. Martin Coates reveals an excellent singing voice as college scout Brassett, while Patti Griffiths maintains absolute poise and watchful dignity as Charley’s real aunt, arriving incognito.

Call 01273 777748 for tickets.