When the Farber Foundry staged the dramatic version of Molora, based on the Greek classic Oresteia, at the Oxford Playhouse last June, it proved such a phenomenal success her company have been invited back from Wednesday to next Saturday with a complete new working of this play.

To concentrate the audience's attention on the action the Playhouse auditorium will be totally transformed once again, by arranging a bank of steeply tiered seats around an extended stage. This creates an intimate studio effect which brings the action, and the copious amounts of blood that flows throughout this play, far closer to the audience, making it a challenging and compelling drama that should not be missed.

Director Jael Farber uses the ancient Greek tragedy as a metaphor through which to revisit the horrors endured by the black majority in South Africa at the hands of the white minority. Unlike the original Oresteia trilogy, however, in which the cycle of revenge is fulfilled, the story is modified to break the cycle of violence and reflect South Africa's transition in the 1990s.

The action is set at what might have been a typical hearing at South Africa's Truth and Reconciliation Commission hearings, where perpetrators of human rights violations faced their victims and, in exchange for amnesty, gave detailed accounts of their deeds.

In her director's notes Jael states that South Africa's ability to avoid a bloodbath after the democratic elections of 1994 - which brought to power a black government - holds a lesson for the present. She wanted to create a work that explores the cycle of violence and the dilemma of survivors who must have faced the choice between the impulse to avenge themselves and the choice to forgive. This play certainly embraces these dilemmas.

The power of the piece is hugely increased by a seven-strong chorus who sing, dance, chant and perform on a number of instruments.

For tickets phone 01865 305305.