I remember that I went to a very earnest professional production of The Taming of the Shrew when I first came to Oxford. The program notes told us we should regard the play as an interesting social document of its time, and should disregard its message about female submission, while we enjoyed its poetry.

None of that with this production! The play was handled with expertise and exuberance, rather than as a slightly embarrassing lesson in archaic sociology.

Some of the humour was played with fierce candour, which by and large was appropriate to the context and worked nicely. It was soon obvious that the players were enjoying being on the stage, and determined to carry the audience along with them.

Nobody would forget the astonishing athleticism and physicality of the performance, with Petruchio and Kate throwing each other around the stage with huge energy, in expertly choreographed 'fight' routines. These people have been schooled not only in acting, but also in ballet, it seemed...

My companion described Daniel Garnham as Petruchio, as a combination of Errol Flynn and Russell Brand, and I'm not about to argue with that - he governed the stage whenever he was on it (as the character is surely meant to do) and the fireworks between him and Victoria Haynes as Katherina were very convincing.

One criticism: a number of people in the audience (including me) were a little uncomfortable in the opening scenes, which were handled with a tremendous pace and unclear diction which looked rather like nervousness. But it soon became clear that the text was going to be very effectively staged.

Altogether an effervescent performance of what is meant to be one of Shakespeare's most 'difficult' plays - there was no demur or embarrassment in this team!