It’s just over a year since director, aka Strictly Come Dancing judge, Craig Revel Horwood and arranger Sarah Travis staged Steve Brown and Justin Greene’s musical Spend Spend Spend! at the Watermill, Newbury.

Their production won the prestigious 2009 TMA Theatre Award for Best Musical, while cast member Kirsty Hoiles, of whom more in a moment, won the award for Best Supporting Performance — both beating competition from all over the country.

Following a brief revival warm-up run at the Watermill, the show is now on tour, and arrives at the Oxford Playhouse next week.

Spend Spend Spend! tells the real life story of Viv Nicholson, who won £152,319 on the football pools — not bad today, but a colossal sum when Bruce Forsyth presented her with the cheque in 1961. Viv then proceeded to go through both the money and husbands as if there was no tomorrow — she is portrayed in the show as having a ravenous appetite for sex, and whips the trousers off a passing fireman (pictured), among many others, with lightning speed.

Kirsty Hoiles won her award for playing Young Viv, a role she reprises in this revival. It’s a stunning performance, not least because she holds your interest, and even your sympathy, while simultaneously depicting the once-mischievous teenage Viv as increasingly hard-boiled and self-interested. There is a telling moment when Viv’s miner father (Graham Kent), who has violently assaulted his daughter in his time, oils up to her in the pub after the pools win, only to be told that he is not getting a penny.

Like Hairspray (reviewed on Page 5), the show has a dark side, but there’s plenty of humour as well, especially in the first half. A chorus of dancing Bunny Persons (a surreptitious glance will reveal that they’re not all girls) is an unforgettable highlight, as is the sheer fizz of Craig Revel Horwood’s choreography for the title number. Sarah Travis’s arrangements of Steve Brown’s original score reflect both sides of the dramatic coin, matching exuberance with tear-jerkers like Who’s Gonna Love Me. As usual, the Watermill fields an ensemble cast who are equally adept at singing, dancing, and playing musical instruments.

Looking over Young Viv’s shoulder, and commenting on each unfolding event is her older self, played by Karen Mann. With its depiction of cynical disillusionment at the corrosive influence of too much money, this is also an extremely powerful performance. “Even the mice have packed up and gone,” the older Viv remarks as the cash runs out.

The show is at the Oxford Playhouse from Tuesday until October 9 (tickets 01865 305305 or www.oxfordplayhouse.com).