There’s a strange sense of the familiar about the timely new production from Nottingham Playhouse Theatre Company. A mystery thriller with a twist, I HAVE BEEN HERE BEFORE sees a peaceful Yorkshire inn thrown into turmoil by the arrival of an enigmatic stranger, who already appears to know its guests inside out. Immediately recognisable as the work of J.B. Priestley, author of An Inspector Calls, I HAVE BEEN HERE BEFORE bears all his hallmarks of invention and intrigue. Nottingham Playhouse’s Artistic Director Giles Croft helms this rare revival, with Helen Fownes-Davies designing. David Acton features as the mysterious Dr Görtler in a cast that itself includes return visits to the venue by Robin Kingsland and Robert Austin. The ultimate case of déjà vu, I HAVE BEEN HERE BEFORE is sponsored by insurance specialists Russell Scanlan and will play – and replay – at Nottingham Playhouse from Friday 27 April to Saturday 12 May (Box Office: 0115 941 9419 or www.nottinghamplayhouse.co.uk).

Three guests seek a weekend’s refuge at the Black Bull Inn, high on the Yorkshire moors. The industrialist Walter Ormund is wealthy but a workaholic; his younger wife Janet hopes to bridge the growing distance between them. Oliver Farrant, an idealistic young school head, is recovering from nervous exhaustion. The arrival of a learned German refugee puts paid to all their plans. Unsettlingly, Dr Görtler claims to have sought them out after they featured vividly in his dreams. What’s more, if Görtler is to be believed, their drama has already been played out many times – and this one critical weekend contains the seeds of tragedy.

I HAVE BEEN HERE BEFORE shares with the later An Inspector Calls an inscrutable authority figure who possesses uncanny knowledge of the others onstage – except that here, Dr Görtler’s aim is not to condemn but perhaps to help them. One of Priestley’s celebrated "time plays", alongside Dangerous Corner and Time and the Conways, I HAVE BEEN HERE BEFORE was in fact inspired by the theories of the Russian-born mathematician and mystic P.D. Ouspensky. Published in 1931, Ouspensky’s New Model of the Universe argued that Time is cyclical, and its events subject to "eternal recurrence": whatever occurs in the present has already occurred many times, and will do so again.

Priestley sets out not to convert us to Ouspensky’s theory of Time, but to use it as a dramatic device. Within the unique atmosphere of unease and suspense that results, his characters are forced to evaluate their lives and make key decisions about their futures. Their sense of premonition proves that they have been here before – but with Dr Görtler’s intervention, they have a chance to reshape their destinies. With the familiar proving anything but cosy, a compelling fable unfolds of lives intimately interconnected and human decency sorely tested.

Born in Bradford in 1894, the prolific John Boynton Priestley first rose to prominence in 1929 with his novel The Good Companions. Its stage adaptation launched him on a career as a playwright, in which he challenged the realist conventions of the day with a series of bold experiments in structure and narrative. I HAVE BEEN HERE BEFORE made its debut in 1937, just weeks after Time and the Conways. Priestley continued to publish novels and essays, and his English Journey of 1934 established him as a champion of the common person – although it had little good to say about Nottingham. His morale-boosting BBC broadcasts during the Second World War cemented his popularity and in later years he was to become a prominent peace campaigner. The question of Time remained a favourite preoccupation right up to his death in 1984.

Dedicated Playhouse attenders will experience déjà vu for themselves when they see Robert Austin and Robin Kingsland. Robert, playing the innkeeper Sam Shipley, has just completed a national tour of Whisky Galore! The Making of a Fillum, also directed by Giles Croft, in which he played Sir Compton Mackenzie. Robert is also familiar to fans of the National Theatre of Brent, with whom he has appeared as Bernard on stage and screen, and has worked extensively with Alan Ayckbourn. Robin Kingsland, who plays Walter Ormund, has achieved success both as an actor and as a writer for television and stage: his most recent work for Nottingham Playhouse was the first theatrical adaptation of Erich Maria Remarque’s All Quiet on the Western Front in 2006. Prior to this, Robin played Peter Lawford in the hit production Rat Pack Confidential, which threatened an eternal recurrence of its own, returning by popular demand to Nottingham twice, in between national tours and a West End run at the Whitehall Theatre.

Playing Dr Görtler is David Acton, a hugely experienced actor whose many credits include numerous RSC appearances, the award-winning Jacobean Season among them. Aoibheann O’Hara, who plays Janet Ormund, is carving out a career in American movies, including Aeon Flux and the Hal Hartley film Fay Grim. Playing opposite her, as the dangerously attractive Oliver Farrant, is Sam Talbot, who took a key role in Nottingham Playhouse’s production of Chicken Soup with Barley on its London transfer. Finally, Penelope Woodman, whose extensive credits range from Shakespeare to panto, plays innkeeper’s daughter Sally Pratt.

Giles Croft, who directs I HAVE BEEN HERE BEFORE, has been Artistic Director of Nottingham Playhouse since 1999, following spells as Artistic Director of the Palace Theatre, Watford and as Literary Manager at the National Theatre. His numerous productions for Nottingham Playhouse include Robin Kingsland’s adaptation of All Quiet on the Western Front; a major revival of Arnold Wesker’s Chicken Soup with Barley, which transferred to London’s Tricycle Theatre; Robert Lepage’s Polygraph; world premieres of Ethel and Ernest, Angels Among the Trees, The White Album, To Reach the Clouds and the hugely popular Rat Pack Confidential; and the period thriller Double Indemnity. Most recently he directed Whisky Galore! The Making of a Fillum, his own adaptation of the Ealing comedy.

Designer Helen Fownes-Davies has also been here before, designing February’s production of Whisky Galore! Her other work at Nottingham Playhouse includes the set for Satin ‘n’ Steel, which was featured in the recent exhibition Collaborators, curated by the Society of British Theatre Designers. Her design for I HAVE BEEN HERE BEFORE faithfully captures the interiors of a traditional English country inn, while keeping the foreboding landscapes of the Yorkshire moors a constant presence on stage. Lighting is by James Farncombe and Sound Design by Adam McCready, with Jonathan Man acting as Assistant Director.

-ends-