I wish I knew someone at Oriel College. Then they might invite me to Oriel’s summer ball, which, according to Priya Atwal’s play Chutney & Chips — Bhangra, Bops and Break-ups, features a colourful display of Indian dancing.

The play begins with a series of snapshot scenes of Asian student life at Oxford University. There are discussions about boys, girls, and degree courses. Nervous James (Matija Vlatkovic) asks Kiran (Geetanjali Normandale) out on a first date, and is rather cruelly rebuffed.

“Perhaps we could be just good friends?” he asks sadly. Everyone is whisked in front of tutor Charles (Stephen Kyberd) who, he assures the students, is always there for them should any problems arise. Apart from one cheerfully delivered comment: “I study medicine — typical Indian,” the point is made that Asian students are no different from anyone else in most respects.

But one difference can arise, and it’s the point of Atwal’s play.

Kiran does eventually get serious with James — who is white. Family uproar ensues, and her parents order her to break off the relationship. Kiran goes to (white) tutor Charles for advice, and he clutches his head in dismay: it transpires that he, too, fell in love with an Indian girl when he was an Oxford undergraduate. On that occasion, the play shows in a flashback scene, the girl’s father resorted to violence.

To me as a non-Indian, the capacity, largely student Asian, audience’s reaction was very interesting. They frequently roared with laughter, even at some of the more serious scenes. Was this, I wondered, quite what playwright Atwal intended?

Acting was spirited and committed, although the production could have done with a firmer directorial hand at times — there was too much muttering of dialogue. But the sheer joie de vivre of most of the characters left me feeling considerably uplifted, as did the pure Bollywood happy ending.