Apart from an adaptation of her hugely popular novel Rebecca, the best-selling writer Daphne du Maurier penned only two plays, of which the better known is September Tide. The Years Between, dating from 1943 and later revised to take account of events at the end of the Second World War, is very rarely seen. The enterprising Derngate&Royal in Northampton — recently named Regional Theatre of the Year in the Stage 100 Awards — deserves our thanks for the exceptionally fine revival which opened this week.

Besides being a gripping — and affecting — drama of family life, the well-crafted play can be viewed as a state-of-the-nation report on a society altered forever by global conflict. Its focus is the drawing room-cum-library of a beautiful country house —elegantly presented by designer Helen Goddard, with its well-stacked shelves and high, tiered windows that bathe the egg-shell blue paintwork in light. Here we meet MP’s wife Diana (Marianne Oldham), her ten-year-old son Robin (Luke Nunn), and neighbouring farmer Richard (Alisdair Simpson), the man who looks set to take the place of her husband Michael, an army colonel, who is missing, presumed dead, after a plane crash in the Mediterranean.

Three years pass. The war is almost at an end. Diana is now a busy and successful MP, having submitted to the blandishments of Cabinet minister and political Mr Fix-it Sir Ernest Foster (David Verrey) and ‘inherited’ Michael’s seat. A quiet marriage to Richard is days away. Then comes a bombshell phone call to Sir Ernest from his naval captain brother. His ship has docked in Portsmouth; aboard is Michael — back from the dead.

The most difficult of homecomings follows. Michael returns to find his clothes gone, his prized first-edition books gathering mildew in a shed, and Diana a very different woman from the home-loving, tapestry- stitching housewife he left behind. Now she is barking out a succession of letters on constituency business to secretary Miss Jameson (Sarah Wyatt); political speeches, too, in which she speaks ominously (to Michael’s mind) of obedience to the state. For his part, he wants a return to the Diana of old, to the world of freedom he had before, to the world for which he fought Where and how he fought are matters of ongoing concern as the action proceeds. So, too, is the question of whether he will discover the true nature of relations that existed between his wife and Richard and, if so, whether his marriage will survive.

In short, there is much of compelling interest in this polished production, under director Kate Saxon. Acting throughout is of the highest standard, with Barbara Kirby as the good-sort housekeeper Nanny and Robert Gill as Michael’s unflappable batman Venning completing a well-chosen cast.

Continues until February 26. Tickets: www.royalandderngate.co.uk or 01604 624811.