May 1997 was a very long time ago. A time when it looked, politically, like the country had turned a positive corner. A time of Blur, Oasis, Spice Girls and Eurovision-winning music for the UK. A time when the UK was the darling of Europe and the world. It is this moment that The Wardrobe Ensemble have focused in on for their new show. Education Education Education arrives from the Edinburgh Fringe a smash hit with a Stage award for Best Ensemble under its belt. If there is a must-see play this autumn, this would be the one to bet on.

The Wardrobe Ensemble have been slowly building up a reputation of success in Bristol and now arrive in Oxford as a mightily impressive group. They are the devisers of this piece, investing in it a frenetic style that, in the setting of Wordsworth Comprehensive, seems to fit perfectly. Schools are a place where friendships are forged and destroyed on an hourly basis, with cultural micro-bubbles that are constantly evolving. It gives the cast of seven a wealth of material to work with as they chart they day after New Labour's landslide electoral victory, and all the hope that brewed.

Stylistically the show is exuberant. The hits of the era are pumped out (I confess my head bobbed along for much of the play), costume changes are done at lightning speed, and all the set is moveable, including the wheeled school chairs and tables (ingenious). It is apparent that the show has been workshopped and performed extensively, gaining an impressive pace, though this can lead to an overwhelming viewing experience. This is one show where the volume rarely drops.

The mightily impressive ensemble is elevated by the presence of two outstanding performances. Emily Greenslade's troubled student has real impact and manages to rise above a potentially stereotypical rendition of a teenager, finding real pathos behind her character. James Newton's Tobias is both the audience's route into the school as well their guide to proceedings. A newly arrived German language assistant, he offers both a distinctive outside voice, informing us of his love for British culture whilst also cutting through the noise of proceedings and simplifying the messages of the play. He is a fabulous addition, exquisitely played by Newton, equal parts deadpan hilarity and heartbreaking honesty. The character helps elevate the piece to one that touches on being electrifyingly good. The rest of the cast play their parts well, even if few struggle to move beyond the exaggerated style of the production.

I found myself moved at the end of Education, Education, Education, despite of a final third that feels rushed and in search of a climax. The false hope of the era has a devastating impact when looked back through the bleary eyes of 2017. It is what cuts through the noise and drama of a day at school. That for one brief moment things could only get better.

In the theatre, you are always an outsider looking in. In Education Education Education, The Wardrobe Ensemble have managed to amplify this effect even further by using the German language assistant as the centre point in their story, following a day in the life of comprehensive secondary school in 1997. It’s a clever technique; Tobias (James Newton), with his deadpan delivery and firm caring morality, voices our concerns, our questions, our hindsight. Because the biggest vantage point of alienation in this story of course has come with time; we all know that the failing secondary schools of the nineties are if anything worse now, and the shit thrown at the teachers and students within them has only got thicker and faster.

Education Education Education has buckets of energy - the production seems to spin on its central axis as the well-bonded ensemble move around the space. The choreography is slick and tight, allowing the piece to fly by with the speed of a sweaty rushed school day. Every member of the cast contributed wholly to the piece, which is truly collaborative, although Emily Greenslade, who played both put-upon receptionist and the troubled, uncared for young woman Emily, had a particularly remarkable depth to her performance. She gave Emily the nuance that the character deserved; the bubbling resentment and passion just below the surface of her teenage angst.

I found the piece moving in a very familiar way. It’s not realism, it’s farce. But at the heart of the comedy are the real people and the real lives who have been floundering at the centre of our education system for the last 20 years. The piece is inherently political, setting itself against the backdrop of Tony Blair’s landslide victory in 1997, but instead of just telling this story, it again uses it as perspective from which to explore the characters involved and their engagement with each other and with the issues at hand. The piece is exciting and clever and so important. It has compassion and pace in equal spades, and it's funny to boot.

As a top pick at the Edinburgh fringe, and a winner of a Stage Award for Best Ensemble we are very lucky to be receiving this wonderful production in Oxford later in the year. Catch it if you can at the North Wall Arts Centre.