George and Weedon Grossmith’s 1892 novel Diary of Nobody, translated to the stage at the Royal&Derngate Theatres, is a treat that should on no account be missed. How perfectly the action plays amid the gilded opulence of the Royal, whose opening in 1884 predated by just four years the incomparable Charlie Pooter’s first appearance in Punch. Behind rich velvet curtains and a row of brass shell footlights, a four-strong team of fine actors present a gallery of comic characters in garb suggesting (with the men at least) that they might have stepped straight from the pages of the magazine.

The diaries are offered (in scriptwriter Hugh Osborne’s clever adaptation) as a “theatrical representation” — Pooter’s words, pompously enunciated — acted out by him and a trio of hired-in thesps. While Pooter — expertly portrayed by Robert Daws — plays only himself, the others take on various roles, sometimes with a hilarious lack of concern for visual verisimilitude. (This licence is lent to the production, of course, by the conceit of its being an amateur job got up by a half-wit.) The thickly bearded ‘Darwitts’ (Peter Forbes), for example, gives us Charlie’s long-suffering wife Carrie, simpering over her sampler, as well-as a splendid turn as a grumpy, crotch-scratching ironmonger. The sharp-tongued Farmerson is only one of many tradespeople, work colleagues and friends (so called) purveying put-downs for our hapless hero.

‘Birks Spooner’ (Steven Blakeley) alternates a hilarious portrait of the garrulous, gabbling maid Sarah with showing us the Pooters’ scapegrace son Lupin in all his cheeky insouciance. The lad’s unsuitable gold-digging girl Daisy Mutlar is presented in the form of a dressed-up string-headed mop, as is Lupin’s lanky overweight rival, Mr Murray Posh.

‘Hillbutter’ (William Oxborrow, pictured centre right) is both the musician of the evening, at piano, violin and assorted percussion instruments, and an actor. As Mrs James, Carrie’s snobbish, French-spouting sidekick, he earns some of the show’s biggest laughs.

Under director Gary Sefton, this production offers two hours of fast-moving, good-natured fun. As with other recent Northampton productions, it looks a likely candidate for later success in London.

Continues until March 19. Tickets: www.royalandderngate.co.uk or 01604 624811.