EVERY summer, Esk Valley Theatre takes over the moorland Robinson Institute in Glaisdale, near Whitby, for a month-long production that never fails to be one of the annual delights of the Yorkshire theatre calendar.

If Mark Stratton's shows have escaped you over the past ten years, now is your chance to experience one when his EVT company goes on the road with John Godber's fly-on-the-wall nightclub drama Bouncers.

This durable physical comedy was picked to represent the year 1984 in the National Theatre's list of 100 great 20th century plays, and while always rooted in the Eighties' nightlife, Godber has penned several incarnations over more than 30 years.

Mark Stratton and co-director Sheila Carter first used Godber's 1993 version of the script for a Nottingham production nearly thirty years ago, and when they asked to do so again this autumn, albeit with added elements from later versions, Godber was happy to agree. Intriguingly, however, he had no recollection of having written a scene where a nightclub reveller is being sick in the gents.

It was a vignette new to this reviewer too but it is nevertheless typical of the boisterous vulgarity of a street-culture play that now sounds and looks like a period piece but whose ugly home truths are still being played out each weekend in every town and city.

As ever, Godber's four doormen of the apocalypse greet you beneath the neon lights outside the theatre with a prowling surliness and an aggressive form of politeness that you might otherwise call intimidation, but not to their face.

It was ever thus for Godber's Judd (Lee Bainbridge), Les (Andrew Grose), Ralph (Gabriel Paul) and veteran head bouncer Lucky Eric (Mark Stratton, in a welcome return to the stage that will continue with Northern Broadsides; watch this space).

Against the minimalist backdrop of Graham Kirk's set and lighting design of four neon-framed blocks of bricks, complemented by the obligatory four beer barrels, the bouncers also play four northern lads on the lash and four lasses on a birthday bash at Mr Cinders.

York Press:

The four doormen of the apocalypse: Judd, left, Les, Lucky Eric and Ralph

Choreographed crisply by Sheila Carter, the disco night of a thousand scars hurtles through the dark hours with broad humour, rough tongues and a motley crew of cameo caricatures that over the years has become Bouncers' one weak link. Nevertheless, the breathlessly fast switches between bouncers, lads and lasses remains a theatrical marvel in a show that always feels only one lit match from combustion.

Gabriel Paul's Ralph excels, whether as the slimy DJ or sexy Suzy, while Stratton's renditions of Lucky Eric's speeches – the Godber equivalent of Shakespeare's monologue – carry a weight, sadness and savage poetry that you wish Godber would turn into a heavyweight play some day soon. A day when, like Lucky Eric, he no longer finds jokes funny any more.

Bouncers, Esk ValleyTheatre, Robinson Institute, Glaisdale, and now on tour in North Yorkshire until October 31. Box office: 01947 897587 or eskvalleytheatre.co.uk

Tour dates: October 22, Hutton Rudby Village Hall; October 23, Thornaby Sports and Leisure Club, near Middlesbrough; October 24, Sleights Village Hall; October 26, Coatham Memorial Hall, Redcar; October 27, Danby Village Hall; October 28, Fylingdales Hall, Robin Hood's Bay; October 29, Whitby Rifle Club; October 30, Goathland Village Hall; October 31, Milton Rooms, Malton. All shows start at 7.30pm, plus 3pm matinee in Whitby.