BAWDY jokes don’t usually mix well with classical music but then, Let All the People Rejoice is not exactly your typical night at the theatre.

The set is strikingly simple - just a piano, table and chair, candles, decanter, wine glass and piles of music manuscripts.

But Oxford Playhouse’s offbeat show crackles with energy, thanks to Olivier award-winner Henry Goodman.

Starring as Nicholas Lanier, the first-ever master of the King’s music in the 17th century, he takes us on a quick romp through the past four centuries, from Charles I to our present-day Queen.

Goodman’s RADA training and Royal Shakespeare Company pedigree shine through, as he rolls his eyes at the audience, confiding and grumbling about how hard it is to please a monarch, with a flow of perfectly timed innuendo and rude asides.

Underneath the humour is a genuinely interesting stream of anecdotes and facts about the men in charge of composing, or finding, that perfect piece of music for Royal births, coronations, marriages, anniversaries and deaths through the ages.

The script is written by BBC Radio 3 presenter Ian Skelly who also pens speeches for Prince Charles, so there is a neat symmetry as Royal scribe casts a critical eye over Royal musicians.

Bringing to life the work of regal compositions from the likes of Purcell, Handel, Elgar – pronounced El-jar by our slightly befuddled time-travelling Lannier – and Sir Peter Maxwell Davies, is the job of talented pianist Anna Tilbrook, who almost steals the show with her obvious passion for the music.

Soprano Sarah Fox proves her versatility, sailing through the pomp of splendid classical numbers before sounding equally at home with Noel Coward’s raffish Chase Me Charlie, apparently a favourite of the Queen Mum.

Although drawing on the past, the script is stuffed with slyly subtle jokes which link to present-day topics including Royal prerogative and immigration.

Clever, quirky and at times, poignant but certainly not boring.

3/5