Kenneth MacMillan’s terrific ballet Manon is set, like Abbe Prevost’s original story, in the decadent salons and sleazy brothels of 18th-century Paris. When we first set eyes on Manon it’s clear that every man in the room desires her, and, as portrayed by Agnes Oaks, this is certainly understandable.

Her handsome but slimy brother Lescaut goes about taking money for her companionship, and is anxious to introduce her to the ultra-rich Monsieur G.M. This isn’t difficult, since G.M. is already beside himself with lust, and MacMillan has created a stunning trio in which Lescaut manipulates Manon’s body into seductive positions, with G.M. hanging on to any piece of her he can, and being given a good look up her skirt in the process. Manon at this point is a groomed and confident seductress, and intoxicated by the luxuries such moneyed men can provide. She is practically orgasmic when G.M.’s gift of a floor-length fur coat is draped over her shoulders.

But this Manon is about to change. She and the young Chevalier des Grieux fall madly for each other, and here again MacMillan has demonstrated his genius for highly original and beautiful dance that also clearly displays the feelings of the characters. When Manon leaves G.M. to be with her lover, he has her arrested as a prostitute. Sentenced to penal colony in New Orleans, she is accompanied by des Grieux who kills the gaoler who has raped her, and leads her out into the swamps of Louisiana. There she dies in his arms in the swirling mists, as characters from her past float by in the background. The final duet, in which she is limp with exhaustion but buoyed up by the strength of her love for des Grieux, is a masterpiece both of choreography and of interpretation.

Oaks’s real-life husband, Thomas Edur, is wonderful as her passionate lover, while Dmitri Gruzdyev is as corrupt and sardonic as one could wish as Lescaut. We aren’t sorry to see him killed.

But this ballet belongs to Manon, danced with almost superhuman lyricism by a great ballerina. The complex emotions from artificial charm to despairing love are made perfectly clear. She knows that she is the possession of men, but experiences something more noble before she dies.

Oaks is a dancer at the height of her powers, but she gives just one more performance in Oxford, tonight, and then retires after a final performance in Cardiff, to return to her native Estonia, where her husband will direct the national ballet company. Manon is at The New Theatre until the end of the week, and there are other great casts – the rising young star Fernanda Oliveira tomorrow, and also Daria Klimentova, who was so brilliant as the Snow Queen on her last visit here.