Gill Sutherland enjoys a filthy and foul-mouthed performance by the puppets of Avenue Q

Call me oxymoronic, but the idea of cute fluffy puppets that swear like troopers really appeals to me.

Show creators and major Muppets fans Jeff Marx and Bobby Lopez initially thought of doing a version of Hamlet starring Kermit the Frog.

They then determined to make a musical that wouldn’t be a typically cheesy stage show. Finally they came up with Avenue Q, an unconventional musical that tackles a whole bunch of contentious social issues: racism, neurosis, internet porn, drunkenness and gay love, and stars puppets. Since its first performance off-Broadway in 2003, it’s enjoyed huge success, and this current show is on a 12-week UK tour.

It stars a motley collection of humans (bossy, opera-singing Japanese lady, fat lazy bloke, child-star-turned-janitor) and a bunch of Muppety puppets — some are humanoid and some are hairy monstery types — operated by actors dressed in black that move and sing for the puppets and with whom they weirdly and magically become as one.

The story takes place on a New York street and is entirely reminiscent of Sesame Street, both in the way it is staged — complete with telly monitors showing off-kilter cartoons and educational snippets — and its central plot: a bunch of oddballs trying not to be losers in a cruel world where the odds are stacked against them.

The premise and the success of the show rests on the trick that cute fluffy things can get away with words and ideas that might seem offensive coming from human mouths. And it’s a trick that never fails to delight.

Watching the packed opening night performance in Oxford, the audience whoop and clap along as the cast deliver a non-stop stream of laugh-out-loud smutty gags and even cleverer smutty songs (The Internet is for Porn, I’m not Wearing Underwear Today, etc) Maybe the reason it appeals to us adults (and savvy over-12s) is that we grew up being patronised and misled by cutesy felt creatures telling us we’re “special”, only to find out rather devastatingly that in the big bad real world we aren’t “special” just deluded . . . and this is a welcome and hilarious one-fingered riposte to all that.

Avenue Q
New Theatre, Oxford
Until Saturday
Visit atgtickets.com