The lights go up.  The Chordettes’ Mr Sandman is on the radiogram, a woman in a skirt with half a dozen petticoats is pouring tea out of a teapot into a china cup.

This is Home, I’m Darling, Witham Dramatic Club’s latest production, set in the 1950s.

Or is it?

It survives Tan Shoes with Pink Shoelaces but by the time it gets to the Everly Brothers’ All I Have to Do Is Dream, it’s clear that something has gone awry.

Wasn’t that a laptop Judy just got out of the cupboard? And she’s just left an answerphone message.  She couldn’t have done that, could she?

When she talks about selling something on eBay we are clearly in the 21st Century, whether or not Bobby Darin is singing in the background.

Laura Wade’s clever play on the trials of trying to live in they past is led by outstanding performances from Lucy Parrett and Daniel James, who neatly capture the angst and contradictions of the couple whose lives are gradually falling apart.

Amanda Bedwell takes the spotlight as the tough-love mother pointing out what life was really like in the Fifties, while Carolyn Hurley, Candy Lillywhite-Taylor and Tony Szalai make up a strong supporting cast.

Congratulations too to director Nigel Northfield and fellow set designers Kris Knox-Crichton and Pete Carey for cleverly portraying three different rooms on the stage in this thought-provoking and lively comedy-drama.