The son of the 13th Earl of Home and brother of a prime minister, William Douglas-Home knew whereof he wrote concerning the British upper classes. The comic side to their lives was explored by him in more than 50 plays, almost all completely forgotten since his death in 1992, indeed long before. An unjust fate? The rib-tickling revival of The Reluctant Debutante at the Everyman Theatre would suggest so.

A collaboration between producers Ian Fricker and Richard Temple, in association with Guildford’s Yvonne Arnaud Theatre, the impeccably acted touring production stars Jane Asher as a well-connected mother manipulating madly to secure a suitable — by which is meant rich and/or titled — husband for her daughter. Alas, Ms Asher suffered an injury to her hand on Sunday, necessitating the appearance on Monday (and possibly at later performances) of her understudy Andrea Miller.

She proves an excellent substitute Sheila Broadbent, demonstrating a warm rapport with her good-sort husband Jimmy (the ever-reliable Clive Francis), even as she attempts to wield the matriarchal hammer where daughter Jane (Louise Calf) is concerned. This 17-year-old beauty is the deb of the title: she deplores the whole business of the Season, with its parties, pouting and posing, and shows a stubborn refusal to submit to mamma in the matter of men.

The favoured match is with peer’s son David Bulloch (a delightfully Wodehousian twit from Alex Felton), though Sheila’s pal, the garrulous Mabel (Belinda Lang — who also directs), is clearly eyeing him up for her daughter Clarissa (Lucy May Barker). But Jane has ideas of her own: unheeding of advice that he is bounder, her young heart is stirred by the appeal of swarthily seductive David Hoylake-Johnston (Ed Cooper Clarke, every impressive inch a gentleman here).

All builds to a hilarious conclusion, with some wonderful one-liners on the way.

Until Saturday. Tickets: tel. 01242 572573 (www.everymantheatre.org.uk). The play is at the Theatre Royal, Bath, next week.