Its dated and underlying political battles have all been fought and lost but John Godber's comedy Happy Jack, does have relevence for today's audiences, if only as a reminder of the grim coal mining struggles of the 1980s and 90s.

With humour and pathos in equal measures, the play follows the relationship, in reverse chronological order, of "Happy" Jack, a bluff, down to earth, hard-fighting Yorkshire miner and Elizabeth (Liz), his increasingly neurotic wife.

It is essentially a love story but not a romantic love story as neither Liz nor Jack can express the real feelings they have for each other.

Although they clearly love each other, both keep their nostalgic yearings carefully secret preferring to settle for domestic tranquillity without any apparent intimacy

Happy Jack, directed by David Powley, is beautifully and professionally acted by Stephanie Preacher and Dominic Goodwin and is interspersed with the couple's musical memories with Ah Yes, I Remember it Well from the musical Gigi as perhaps the most poignant.

In one scene in which Stephanie plays her young son being bathed by his father, both players are at their brilliant best.

While the writing is not as incisive as it could be, John Godber does bring out the tedium of the couple's married life with its nagging, arguments, laughter, memories and beneath-the-surface tenderness.