‘Delighted with it . . . Whole thing beautifully played and directed – and, let’s face it, most beautifully written.” Noël Coward’s comments on Brief Encounter, which he confided to his diary on June 2, 1945, after seeing a rough cut of the film, neatly summarise my opinion of Kneehigh Theatre’s spellbinding stage version playing until February 28 at the Royal&Derngate in Northampton.

A hit last year at London’s Cinema on the Haymarket, the show – devised and directed by Emma Rice – cleverly blends Coward’s script for the film (it began life as a story, then became a play) with a number of the Master’s best-known songs, including Mad About the Boy and A Room With a View. Introduced to underline key points in the drama, these are performed by the versatile six-strong cast, some equipped with instruments, and other on-stage musicians.

The result is a delightful new angle on a familiar classic which, while respecting its content and tone, nevertheless takes account of the fact that it depicts a world now utterly lost. The gleefully irreverent, not to say camp, approach leads to such visual (and aural) jokes as the crashing waves we see on the cinema screen – film is blended with live action – when mother-of-two Laura (Hannah Yelland) and her married doctor friend Alec (Milo Twomey) realise they are in love.

Their friendship, of course, has resulted from a chance meeting in a station buffet, here faithfully depicted (designer Neil Murray) with its hissing urns and Bath buns. In command of these is the terrifying Myrtle (Annette McLaughlin), who exercises iron control over much-put-upon waitress Beryl (Beverly Rudd) but nevertheless reveals a warmer side with jack-the-lad porter Albert (Joseph Alessi). Beryl, for her part, brightens her life in a fling with affable dogsbody Stanley (Christopher Price).

The production offers a subtle, but not unwelcome, suggestion of a gay relationship (appropriate where Coward is concerned). This can be observed in the angry reaction of a male friend of Alec’s (Joseph Alessi again) to his pal’s use of his flat for a tryst with Laura. This is clearly presented not as the reaction of someone who is morally outraged at what has happened but as that of a spurned lover who is jealous at having been passed over this time.

Rail buffs will be pleased by the number of steam trains we see, both on film and, at one point, in a finely detailed model which is hauled – puffing smoke, its carriages lit – across the stage. Another visual treat is the use of two puppets (a Kneehigh trademark) to represent Laura’s squabbling children. The girl’s crafty assault on her brother is the most enjoyable bit of puppet violence since Emu duffed up Michael Parkinson.

For tickets call 01604 624811. (www.royalandderngate.co.uk).