The Burton Taylor theatre is one of Oxford's less showy treasures - the studio theatre of the Playhouse, it is a venue where you will consistently encounter interesting, varied and entertaining drama.

Currently playing in their early, 7.30 slot, Spanish Interludes could be described by each of these adjectives. The performance consists of three short plays by Miguel de Cervantes - the author of Don Quixote , one of those great classics that everybody has heard of but nobody has actually read. The plays were originally "entremeses" (interludes); short comedies that were performed between the acts of more serious plays. A sort of half-time entertainment: the sixteenth century equivalent of Janet Jackson's nipple.

The tone is light, often farcical and bawdy, incorporating some music and dance and featuring age-old comedic situations and stock characters. The first piece shows what happens when two fraudsters trick the local town dignitaries with a "magical" puppet show that only "legitimate Christians" can see, a tale that parallels the more familiar story of the Emperor's New Clothes. The second features the traditional set-up of the jealous old cuckolded husband and his lusty young wife. And the third - where a less than subtle gag about a sexton who keeps the town awake by ringing his bell had me guffawing merrily - tells of a pretty serving girl courted by two rivals.

The plays have been translated by the Oxford University Playwriting and Dramaturgy Society - credit to them for making these fine, sunny works accessible in a modern idiom. The acting is mostly enthusiastic rather than polished, with some notable exceptions: Beth McLeod is a charming presence throughout, particularly as the frustrated young wife, Lorenza; and the splendid Paul Tosio is worth the price of the ticket alone with three suitably hammed up, charismatic and very funny performances.

All in all an extremely enjoyable evening - a bit rough around the edges, but far more fun than I expected sixteenth century Spanish drama would be.