STUDENTS got into character yesterday as they hit Oxford's streets to promote their upcoming new play.

Members of the Pigfoot Theatre company, made up of students from a number of different Oxford University colleges, performed scenes from Tom Stoppard’s Travesties, which will begin at the Oxford Playhouse next week.

The actors were interacting with shoppers outside the Westgate Centre and performed some of the physical theatre that is part of the 'energetic' new production.

Set in Zurich in 1917, the play mingles fact and fiction and is described as an 'eclectic mix' of parody, puns and peculiar goings on.

It follows Henry Carr, a former British diplomat, as he navigates a continent thrown into turmoil by the First World War.

There's also a few cameos from some of history's most notable figures, including modernist author James Joyce, Dadaist poet Tristan Tzara and Russian revolutionary Vladimir Lenin.

The play was first written by Tom Stoppard, who is also a visiting professor at the university this year, in 1974 but there has been a resurgence of interest in it after a production won a coveted Tony Award last year.

In a statement, the playhouse said: "Travesties is a charming comedy that blurs fact and fib in its quest to explore political and artistic rebellion.

"In a post-truth world, this hilarious look at the enduring appeal of fiction could not be more timely."

Tickets for the play start at £10 and are available from the Oxford Playhouse ticket office on 01865 305305 or online at www.oxfordplayhouse.com