It’s 1917. War is raging in Europe and Russia is charging headlong into revolution, but the Swiss city of Zurich is a backwater. Sheltered from the storm and run like clockwork, it should be safe, stable, and boring.

As Tom Stoppard’s 1974 comedy Travesties reminds us however, Zurich’s blessed position above the maelstrom also makes it a rather interesting place – an unlikely incubator of rebellion, both political and artistic, being the refuge of Lenin and the proving ground of Dada art.

It is into this world that we are thrown in this bold and zesty production by Oxford University company Pigfoot Theatre.

We find ourselves beside the armchair of Private Carr – played by the standout star of the show, Lee Simmonds – who belies his youth with an impeccable portrayal of an affable British diplomat and former soldier at the end of his days, looking back elegantly at his minor walk-on part in history.

Mixing with the artist Tristan Tzara and writer James Joyce, played by Julia Pilkington and Kate Weir respectively - just one more shape-shifting facet of an enjoyable production which plays fast and loose with form – one where it’s perfectly normal to converse in extended limericks, and where the only sensible souls are Mr and Mrs Lenin (Stas Butler and Constance Kampfner).

Travesties is convoluted and demands our constant attention but Pigfoot is talented enough to engage us throughout – Stoppard’s eloquence justly served by his student acolytes.

There is palpable reverence for the playwright – currently the Cameron Mackintosh Visiting Professor of Contemporary Theatre at St Catherine’s. I do hope he saw it, because I suspect he would have enjoyed this tweaked version of his comedic beast.

TIM HUGHES 4/5

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