Wycombe Swan was full of Madness as award-winning Our House arrived from the West End to bring high-spirited energy to the town this week. And what energy they did bring! It must be the nostalgia, it must be joy, It Must Be Love.

From the collective imaginations of writer Tim Firth, director James Tobias and musical institution Madness, comes a whirlwind of music, dance and acting with a jukebox musical like no other I’ve seen.

Typically, these types of shows are an excuse to play a collection of greatest hits on shuffle, with a solid, if sometimes bland, storyline to fill the gaps.

And it normally works, so I had no reason to expect anything different this time.

But this production took things further, adding depth to its original premise of a guy trying to do the right thing.

Those of you who have ever watched the film Sliding Doors will notice the similarities, as what seems an indifferent choice by the protagonist Joe, leads to very different paths.

While many plays may have only used this idea in its simplest form, Tim Firth’s intriguing script blends the songs of Madness while simultaneously exploring deeper themes of fate, repercussion and self-determination.

The music was fantastically used, and rather than just playing one song after another, the show blended songs and used what fit the story, allowing favourite hits to flow in and out.

The cast, from well-known faces like Britain’s Got Talent’s George Sampson and Emmerdale’s Deena Payne, to new and emerging talents like Jason Kajdi and Sophie Matthew, all performed their multiple roles superbly.

Credit must go to the supporting members, none of whom let each other down, with great singing and lively physical theatre. Special mention must also go to the band and especially the backstage crew, who rotated and revolved the stage and props with the synchronicity of a Russian ballet.

If I had to find some faults, I would have to say that the music could have been slightly better balanced – at times some audience members struggled to hear the words over the music, and I felt that those who were not familiar with either the songs or the book could have missed out on smaller elements.

But overall, this was an excellent night out, and talking to audience members as we walked out (or at least those who weren’t doing Baggy Trousers dance moves as they exited), you could certainly feel a sense of enjoyment and money well spent. Kudos all round.

This show certainly made us feel like we’d entered a House of Fun!

Our House is on at Wycombe Swan until November 25.