Think Desperate Housewives with a race card thrown in for good measure, which is why Clybourne Park has sold out everywhere it opens winning numerous awards in the process with a long stint in the West End

Scooped up by Louise Chantal, the Playhouse’s new chief executive, as a brilliant example of the direction she wants to take the Oxford theatre, we are next in line for this simmering suburban tale.

A tale of two halves, the first is set in 1960s Chicago where a black family move into a white suburb. We then return 50 years on when the tables have been well and truly turned.

Playing both the black maid Francine and respected resident Luna, Gloria Onitiri has gleefully taken on the roles and is relishing every moment on stage with this refreshing and hilarious play.

“It’s so funny that we haven’t stopped laughing since it opened. But we have also talked about race and politics until we are blue in the face,” she tells me. “I would like to go to the pub one night after the show and talk about something else. But that’s what it’s like – it stays with you.

It’s so fun and really unusual as well, particularly so for my character because in 1959 America domestic you didn’t have a voice because of the race relations at the time.

And then you turn to 2009, post Obama, post Oprah where I am educated black woman with a voice.

And I usually play quite feisty characters so it's been interesting to take on this very subservient role. It’s more of an observational role to start with really.

“But it’s terrible for Francine because they talk about her but not to her

“Not that anyone comes out of this squeaky clean. There are so many layers though it’s hard to know where to start.

Except we can all relate to property prices and neighbourhoods going up and down and concerns about how and where we live.

“I’m 32 and living in London with my husband and we are both professionals and thinking about buying a house, so we are going through exactly the same thing. You hear that certain areas are predominantly Asian or black

"Bruce Norris’ writing is genius and he’s not afraid to offend people. He wants to challenge you and that’s what’s so exciting about it.

"It’s also so funny that when I read the script I was laughing out loud on the train. But it makes you laugh and then feel uncomfortable about doing so, so it's always interesting to see the audience’s reactions especially now that we have taken it out on the road.. It makes it very exciting for us.”

Having grown up in Bedfordshire and joined the National Youth Musical Theatre, she was headhunted for The Lion King while doing her A Levels and has been working ever since in musicals such as The Bodyguard and TV shows such as Doctors.

“I can’t do anything else, I have to do this or die,” she laughs.

As for the American setting, Gloria says Clybourne Park could be set anywhere and is just as relevant in the UK. “It’s about identity and cultural groups, gentrification, history, house prices, so it would work in Oxford, London or Birmingham.

“And yet because it’s a satire so it makes you cringe. You will be talking about it for months afterwards. But for me this is entertainment on the best level – because it’s funny, entertaining and challenging. It’s a genius piece of theatre."