The whimsy of this Sondheim musical is that everything seems perfectly reasonable as it happens. Only at the end of the play do you find yourself asking: “How on Earth did we end up here...?” We follow Pseudolus, a slave, in his attempts to play cupid for Philia, a girl who falls in love faster than a Disney princess, and Hero, his master. Laughs, songs, cross-dressing, and a few questionable gender stereotypes: this play has it all.

Pseudolus could easily be the original boy who cried wolf, weaving a web of lies with almost every word he speaks with the aim of gaining his freedom. Andrew Room’s portrayal conveyed a great sense of yearning to be free, and always had a cheeky grin at the ready as if he were the secret love child of the Genie of the Lamp and David Tennant. His comedic timing was impeccable (a quality he shared with Robert Brocklehurst, who played fellow slave Hysterium) and upon revealing that Gusto, “the body snatcher”, mysteriously owed him a favour, he delivered one of the finest thousand-yard stares I have ever seen.

There wasn’t a disappointing tune in the entire performance, though unfortunately the singing sometimes fell foul of the risk of being drowned out by the live band. Georgina Skinner, as Philia, should be commended as the only cast member whose voice was never stifled by the exuberant brass section. To their credit, the rest of the cast realised very quickly when they needed to sing up and the unheard portion of the performance never lasted longer than a single line.

As a word of warning, this is not a play for the staunch feminist. All but one of the women in the play are paraded around semi-clothed and traded as commodities, and the one who isn’t is generally understood to be the boring one of the bunch. Even the supposed heroine, Philia, seems thrilled to be sold off for her body despite being head-over-heels in love with another man. There is even an entire song about what a joy it is for men to watch the maid do the housework. If you can put that aside and remember it’s just a comedy, you’re in for a great evening’s entertainment.