Maybe things were different back in 1984. Maybe audiences then believed that the launch of an unashamedly highbrow literary magazine — the subject of this gently wistful Simon Gray drama, amiably revived — was the beginning of something beautiful. To the cynical minds of 2008, it’s merely a question of when, not if, the whole enterprise will go belly-up.

We don’t hold out huge hopes for the youthful idealism of its Cambridge undergraduate founders either. All manner of works — Merrily We Roll Along, Peter’s Friends, The Glittering Prizes — have stressed repeatedly that student dreams take a battering as life intervenes. Through five scenes, ranging from 1968 to 1986, Gray confirms this thesis in a pleasant if unstartling manner. The six collaborators on the eponymous, Granta-esque journal proceed to do much what the brief sketch of them as students suggests they will. Nothing tremendously dramatic happens. There are no particular fallings-out.

Frustratingly, it takes until after the interval for Fiona Laird’s production to settle into itself. Prior to this, Stuart, Marigold, Martin, Humphry, Nick and Peter, whom the cosy set-up suggests we will get to know intimately, remain first drafts of characters rather than final proofs. It’s no help that the actors look too old for their parts until Act Two.

Robert Portal and Ben Caplan do good work in anchoring the central pairing of Stuart and Martin, the men who pursue the Pursuit long past the point of reason. Mary Stockley tries hard but struggles with the fact that Marigold is increasingly defined by the job interviews she attends. Nick and Peter resolutely remain caricatures; Humphry, quietly gay and fiercely self-critical, fares somewhat better and is portrayed with confidence by a sardonic James Dreyfus. It’s a compliment to everyone involved to say they leave us wanting more.

Until 20 July (020 7907 7060; www.menierchocolatefactory.com).