Normally I'm an assiduous programme-reader, and I research as much about a performance as I can before I go. So it was a novel experience to approach this totally blind, knowing only it was a double bill. This is a great test of how approachable a work is, and these two pieces proved very easy to follow, and full of surprises. (The lack of program does mean however that I can't tell you who danced which part.)

The first piece was a sombre and plot-driven adaptation of a short story called The Suit, by choreographer Cathy Marston. I guessed it was set in 1950s Alabama (reminded of a recent Dr Who?) but it's actually Johannesburg. At any rate, with subtle clues and sparse set a whole spirited but segregated society was magically conjured. The story centres on a loving wife and husband. He goes off to work, and almost instantly the wife's lover appears. But the husband has forgotten his briefcase, and catches the pair in flagrante. Lover escapes, leaving his suit behind. Husband puts the suit carefully on a hanger, and makes his wife lay a place for it at dinner and take it to the park. Later they go dancing. At first it seems they might reconcile, but again husband turns flinty and they dance an uncomfortable pas de trois, man, wife and suit. I won't spoil the ending, suffice to say it's a bleak piece.

I don't know Can Themba's short story from which this is adapted, so I don't know where it places the balance of blame, but here the cold hard marriage bed made of uncomfortable chairs, the husband's hardheartedness and the unkindness of a society where women are only allowed to be housewives certainly gives context for the infidelity. Aside from the central couple, five other dances not only people the world but create the furniture and scenery. They give a ghostly feeling of being watched, or company and friendliness, with clever lighting switching moods. A soundtrack of jagged, modern music (which must have been specially commissioned) appropriately discomfited.

The second half, by contrast, was a riotous bundle of fun, beginning with three very classical tutu-ed and doublet-ed pairs of dancers, to an accompaniment of Handel. They were astonishingly synchronised, almost robotically so, until suddenly a mischievous figure appeared and froze proceedings. This Puck-Loki-demon, dressed as a boy scout but with green mohican and beard like a Balinese god, then wreaked havoc, sending the entranced couples into another world. It was all very Midsummer Night's Dream.

The pairs were broken, and re-formed, and at one point Helena was pursued by Lysander, Demetrius and Hermia. The boys were quite put out when she chose Hermia. In a number of ballet firsts, I saw same sex kisses from both men and women, wild afro hairdos, and glittery cocaine snorting, in between Titania romancing Bottom, and Oberon failing to catch a bird. (It is also a first for Ballet Black to dance in traditional tutus, in their 17 years!) Suddenly Salvador Dali appeared to reclaim half his moustache. The soundtrack of Eartha Kitt, Rogers and Hart numbers, and musicals covers fitted perfectly. Arthur Pita the choreographer is Matthew Bourne's partner, and while this was fresher and less camp, it had Bourne-ish moments.

Ballet Black seemed to be on top form. The same seven dancers performed both halves, and seemed to revel in the contrast between pieces. But it felt more than that. They've been in the news recently for developing shoes suitable for dancers of different skin colours - not a revolutionary idea, but proof that diversity is being taken more seriously. Are they also buoyed by the US midterm results? Or by Misty Copeland, who is appearing in Disney's new Nutcracker film, recently discussing racism and sexism in ballet? At any rate it feels like Ballet Black are doing the right thing at the right time.

Oxford Playhouse has a record of booking exceptional dance companies, and last night's packed audience included plenty of dancers and viewers of different ages and skin colours. As usual Ballet Black was only here for one night, but there are further tour dates elsewhere, and they will surely return. You can go and see them with politics in mind, or you can just go to see fabulous dancers, whose commissioning of works, dancing and acting skills are all bang on.