A far from full house at the Aylesbury Waterside greeted the arrival on Tuesday of the National Theatre’s Travelling Light — a reflection, no doubt, of the decidedly mixed reviews Nicholas Wright’s play received during its recent run at the Lyttelton. But flawed though it certainly is — by a thick streak of sentimentality above all else — this is drama worth seeing, not least for the bravura performance it boasts from the always hugely watchable Antony Sher.

Never one to stand accused of down-playing a role — as he showed supremely as the RSC’s Richard III — Sher presents us here with a Jewish patriarch truly larger than life. With the physical presence of Tevye, from Fiddler on the Roof, and the financial acumen of a Shylock (another of Sher’s RSC successes), the wealthy timber merchant Jacob Bindel quite naturally dominates the Eastern European shtetl, c. 1900, where the action is set.

A peripatetic existence early in life has left him verbally challenged in the days of his pomp. “I never not learn one language good,” he announces in the guttural tones that eventually threaten to become irritating. His shortcoming naturally predisposes him to a means for the communication of ideas that does not require words — moving pictures, still silent, of course, in those days.

Opportunity to invest his money in the new art form arises through young Motl Mendl (excellent Damien Molony), who has returned to the shtetl for the funeral of his photographer father and stayed on — to the delight of his roly-poly, good-sort aunt (Sue Kelvin) — having become captivated by the artistic possibilities of the Lumière Brothers’ Cinématographe he has been bequeathed.

With the help of a gentile servant girl Anna (Lauren O’Neil), who becomes by degrees his collaborator, lover and film star/muse, he starts to discover the secrets of montage, close-ups and the like as he works on films recording life in the village and later on fictional themes. Under the well-practised hand of director Nicholas Hytner, the rehearsal and shooting of the scenes are amusingly presented, with the comedy oddly reminiscent of the mechanicals preparing their Pyramus and Thisbe play in A Midsummer Night’s Dream. This applies particularly to Bindel’s Bottom-like insistence that his way is best.

Through the work of video/projector designer Jon Driscoll, we see the result of this endeavour on a screen at the centre of Bob Crowley’s set, with its dolls’ house-like presentation of the shtetl.

The story is told in flashback from the perspective of Hollywood in 1936 where Motl, now known as Maurice Montgomery (Paul Jesson), is a major figure in film. His career trajectory, of course, is one that was followed by many Eastern European Jews, whose crucial role in the movie industry is properly celebrated in this always entertaining play.

Until Saturday. Box office: 0844 871 7607 (www.atgtickets.com/aylesbury).