Cabaret, Chestnut Productions/Magdalen Players, Oxford Playhouse

Berlin in the early nineteen-thirties teetered on the edge of a moral precipice. The city of cabaret, champagne and sexual freedom became a target for the Nazis' stentorian zealotry. It is into this world that the young Christopher Isherwood stepped: he sated himself on the city's cornucopia of fruit, and observed the maelstrom engulfing it. His writings from this period form the basis for the dark and beautiful musical Cabaret.

Director Simon Woods and his team of nearly 100 actors, musicians and technical crew succeed admirably in transporting their audience to this fraught, fragile world. This is a subtle, finely wrought production. On opening night already it seemed as if the generously talented cast and orchestra - like Fraulein Kost - did this for a living, and for pleasure.

Freddie Sayers cuts a fine, loping figure as Emcee. Straight out of a Modigliani portrait, Sayers bestrides the stage with easy confidence. He fuses beautifully in his portrayal the ambiguities of the city: he is at once androgynous and virile, totalitarian and decadent. Much of the success of this production rests on his dandy shoulders.

Iain Sawbridge is the befuddled, accidental Lothario Clifford Bradshaw. His performance is understated and crisp. He makes of a potentially stereotypical character - the ubitiquous American writer abroad - something truly interesting. Poppy Simpson is Sally Bowles, the vampish English songstress, whose life in Berlin is of such a flavour that she would prefer that her Mama didn't get wind of it. Simpson is undaunted by filling the huge shoes worn in the 1972 film version by Liza Minelli. Her performance is sensitive and thoughtful; her rendition of 'Life is a Cabaret' was simply superb.

Ed McGown is very funny as Ernst Ludwig, the initially bumbling German man of affairs. So does McGown endear his character to the audience that his gradual emergence as the villain of the piece creates a very real and necessary sense of moral tension and personal betrayal.

Karis McClarty's Fraulein Kost is memorable for a variety of reasons, not least for her abundant generosity. To sailors, that is. McClarty is exuberant and entertainingly naughty as this harlot with a heart.

In many ways, the focal characters in this production are those of Frau Schneider, the landlady of advancing years, played by Susan Hitch, and her Jewish grocer beau, Herr Schultz (James Methven). This pair of unlikely lovers are simply delightful, and tragic. Their initial bumbling attempts to don the lover's cloak are amusing and endearing; the inevitable foundering of their relationship conveys the frightening dehumanizing effect inherent in totalitarianism. In a studied performance, Hitch is the very pineapple of perfection. Methven is marvellous in this difficult role.

The chorus deserves especial commendation. They have clearly spent much blood and tears becoming such a very slick outfit. Liz Chan's commitment also cannot go unmentioned. William Gresford is a very funny, if unattractive, lady. And, Jarad Zimbler is very aptly cast as the love-lorn Gorilla.

The orchestra, led by Thomas Boden and Greg Sanderson, is excellent and Alex Beeley's choreography well designed and almost flawlessly executed. In their capable hands 'Tomorrow Belongs to Me' is rendered appropriately distressing and chilling. Delia Peel's set design is interesting and surprising.

Heed the Emcee's salutation: be sure to be welcomed to this excellent Cabaret this week.

Jean Meiring 21/11/01