Mamet's Oleanna is a play of play on words, in which interpretation is everything. Carol visits her college Professor to ask for help with his course, which she is failing. Yet when she returns in act two, he stands accused of sexual harassment - based on her interpretation of their first meeting. And then further, as the play nears its blistering climax, the once-pompous professor is reduced to Carol's original position of submission, whilst she espouses the role of educator. This reversal of status hinges on Carol's interpretation of her professor's motives. In turn, the audience's appreciation hangs upon their interpretation of the characters - Mamet's characterisation is ambiguous. Is Carol the concerned student she appears to be in the first act, or the aggressive feminist she becomes later in the play? Is the Professor the self-satisfied character he first appears to be, or a man with a genuine idea of how education could, and should work?

Whilst Sarah Branthwaite has taken a clear directorial line with the Professor - presenting him as an unlikable character with whom we eventually are forced to sympathise, the ambiguities of Carol's character are preserved. The result is a further comment on the power of interpretation, with our eventual opinion of each character left unprescribed by the production. And what a production it is. Whilst the text is at times drawn out and flighty, its presentation suffers no such affliction. Indeed, the tension created within the small, perfectly suited Burton Taylor theatre is substantial. What begins as your typical office setting becomes an oppressive cell as the interplay of Carol and her Professor progresses and the incessant telephone bell draws one's attention to an ever closing point of climax.

The success of the piece owes in no small part to the high quality of acting on display - Nicholas Bishop commands his stage, in his final degradation as much as in his opening confidence. As a character much older than his years, he is utterly convincing - and it is not just the presence of glasses and a beard which lend him this gravitas. His slow and deliberate delivery successfully denies his true age. Charlotte Covell shows similar skill in her portrayal of Carol from girl to woman. One could not ask for better actors in these roles. Indeed, there is nothing to fault within this production at all. Director, actors and crew have put together what I would consider as the best thing to be seen in Oxford drama in the past two years.

Hanna Johnson, 3rd May 2005