This is a stripped down, thoroughly contemporary staging of an opera that was first performed in 1885, and Walter Gilbert's satire on government corruption and "jobs for the boys" has lost none of its force.

Alisdair Baker, making his directorial debut with the Players, provided many imaginative touches, not least in the sparse stage setting and clever use of lighting and shadow, but also in coaxing warm, natural performances from his cast – none of your lapel-tugging and hamming it up here.

True, there were some pantomime elements – with a plot involving two star-crossed lovers, a handsome prince and even an ugly sister (well, daughter-in-law) played with fearsome gusto by Amanda Thomson, how could there not be? But all the central performances were carefully modulated, and Julian Ransom made for an especially likeable Nanki-Poo, constantly engaging with the audience, while Fernley Copping was suitably droll as Pooh Bah, who seems to hold every office going in the town of Titipu.

Phillip Sendall was a magisterial Mikado, Louise Kaminski utterly charming as the love interest Yum-Yum, with strong support offered by her maidens, Joanna Goldspink and Marianne Vivash, and Simon Blenkin also impressed as Pish-Tush.

The hero, or should that be anti-hero, of the piece is the Lord High Executioner Ko-Ko, a Del Boy-like character who, like so many Gilbert and Sullivan authority characters, has a touch of the absurd about him. John Torr expertly conveyed the many facets of the role – one minute impish, the next devious – and his self-penned "little list" of people of those "who won't be missed" (Peter Mandelson and bankers got the biggest cheers) was a particular highlight.

A word, too, for the chorus, who played their part and delivered Arthur Sullivan's score with real gusto, underpinned by the excellent orchestra, under the expert direction of Margaret Blenkin.