Look: if you see this in time and the theatre has tickets available, do please cancel what you have arranged for tonight, tomorrow or Saturday evening and go and see one of the most exuberant shows ever staged at the Playhouse. Even one senior member of the staff (off-duty) was seen gyrating away at the close. From the circle, it was a quite incredible sight looking down on Tuesday night: hundreds swaying and clapping and enjoying. Even as I left, loads of people were still dancing to and applauding the band, playing tightly five minutes after curtain calls.

All of which makes it all rather pedantic to fill in the details: The Harder They Come is a stage adaptation of a film which came out in 1972. It is accepted as having been Jamaica’s first homegrown movie, starred the singer Jimmy Cliff and spawned a hugely successful soundtrack album.

The plot is based on the short life of Ivan Martin, a chancer and charming wastrel who lived in Jamaica in 1948. It is an island entirely influenced by a culture of music and ganja. He falls in love, is offered drugs and finds guns available. He is shot dead by the police.

This stage adaptation was first produced at the Theatre Royal, Stratford East, in 2006 to great acclaim; and vitally the original show’s joint musical directors, Perry Melius and Wayne Nunes, perform with the band in this fantastic production. For it is a musical: there is barely a moment when at the very least an organ hum does not reverberate through the house.

There are hits in profusion: Higher and Higher, Wonderful World, Beautiful People and You Can Get It If You Really Want stand out — also a haunting few bars of Rivers of Babylon. The singing is of the very highest professional quality, with Alanna Leslie (Elsa) and Marlon King (Pedro) as standouts. Matthew J Henry as the lead Ivan is a great dancer.

The Playhouse stage is shown at its fullest depth and width and the front three rows of the stalls have also been taken out for the duration of this show. The space is always busy, with a minimum of 15 performers on stage at any given time. The band (The Hilton All Stars) is quite excellent and was the basic cause for a hot Oxford audience behaving the way it did.

Not my usual comfort zone, but I loved it.

Until Saturday. Box office: 01865 305305 (www.oxfordplayhouse.com)