Abigail's Party @ Hull Truck

Talk about onstage drug-taking!

Mike Leigh's 1977 play contains copious amounts of drug consumption – all legal, I hasten to add. What really stands out is the cloud of tobacco smoke that settles over the stage during the two hours or so of this very suburban comedy of manners.

It's not just the seventies outfits and obsession with social one-upmanship with house prices that date this play. For some reason, the bygone age is irresistibly conjured by the mere fact of people smoking indoors so very casually. Nothing brings home a public smoking ban quite like several people coolly and deliberately flouting it (the actors, not the characters, of course; they've no concept of any harm from (passive or active) smoking).

But, though the most noticeable, the fags aren't the only drugs onstage. It's the fags that warrant the warnings in the theatre's foyer, but each of Leigh's five finely-drawn characters always has a drink on the go. Between them – and especially Pauline Simpson's charmingly naïve Angie – they down enough booze to sink more than just a single battleship. In fairness, they probably need a stiff drink (or four) to get through the party and cope with Amie Taylor's strident, acerbic hostess, Beverly.

The middle-class urbanites small talk their way through less raucous – though more dangerous and drink-fuelled – a party than that of Abigail, the teenager hosting her party down the road. At times, her unseen party sounds more exciting, but I bet it has nothing on the drama at Beverley's.

When I reviewed a performance of this play a few years ago, I saw it as a stultifying, dull script that could only appeal to a generous audience who'd attended similar parties in their younger days (decades ago). But the amateurs of Hessle Theatre Company utterly redeem Leigh's play, presenting a sparkling, perceptive comedy that appeals to the youngest and oldest of the audience. This is a bunch of performers who understand the comedy of Leigh's play far better than the professionals I saw a few years ago. They draw laughs from quiet little moments and facial expressions – perfectly judged moments of social interaction – as much as from their excellent delivery of the punchlines. They let the script breathe, allowing time for the laughter, but not often at the expense of pace.

This company contains amateurs with great skill, whose care and dedication to their craft is evident. It can be seen not only in the detailed set, which is pitched beautifully at a sense of suburban pretension and ostentation, but in the quality of acting. Of particular note is Martin Beaumont as Beverley's put-upon estate agent husband, Laurence. A master of trying to maintain social dignity balanced with the husband resisting (vainly) domination by his wife, Beaumont's Laurence is a joy. His relationship with Beverley is a familiar one, well-evoked , of the couple politely vying for control. That he looks and sounds like a younger Ian Hislop only adds to his comic power.

Hessle Theatre Company has given Hull an invigorating dose of modern classic drama, and for that they are to be applauded; it's exactly what the best regional theatre should be doing.