Fish and chips, donkey rides, stripy deckchairs and candy rock – John Godber’s play has everything required for a nostalgic trip to a great British institution, the seaside holiday.

Evoking Godber’s own childhood experiences in the 1950s, Jack and Liz (John Thomson and Claire Sweeney) recount episodes from annual trips to Blackpool, the backdrop unmistakable with its representation of tower and illuminations.

The result is an entertaining and light-hearted comedy which pays homage to the town that set up a postcard censorship board, and today features a Comedy Carpet celebrating more than a thousand comedians welcomed to its pier.

It is also a wonderful, poignant and acutely observed portrait of coupledom and ordinariness; surely everyone recognises themselves in Jack and Liz and the nit-picking conversations they rehearse year after year. Jack’s unwillingness to get the sun to his body and recourse to rolled-up trousers and a knotted handkerchief attract Liz’s disdain and knowing chuckles from the audience.

Sweeney and Thomson are marvellous together. Sweeney’s shuffle on stage is so accurate it’s a surprise when she throws off her coat to reveal the younger her in a 1950s sundress.

The only thing that isn’t real about the waves they jump is that there’s no water.