WHEN Aldous Huxley penned his dystopian classic Brave New World in 1931, we were living in an age of steam.

Yet, incredibly, his seminal work of science fiction accurately predicts genetic engineering, reproductive technology the rise of totalitarianism, social conditioning, information technology, widespread recreational drug use and wild promiscuity.

At the time, with the world still shaking off the mud of the Great War, it must have seemed utterly far-fetched. Now his vision is, in many ways, already here – and much as he described it.

Having previously delved into the nightmarish future with their extraordinarily powerful 1984, performed in the vault-like basement of the Mathematical Institute, off Woodstock Road, Oxford’s Creation Theatre company are tackling Huxley’s best-known work – and they have staged it in the postmodern world of our shiny new shopping precinct, the Westgate Centre.

We sit at the foot of the escalators on the Lower Ground Floor listening to the action on headphones, while the cast run up and down the stairs, push themselves against the windows of Joules and White Stuff, and weave among oblivious shoppers who drift by glued to their phones, an unwitting cast of extras, sometimes looking uneasy as they realise they are centre stage. A large screen featuring close-ups of the cast adds to the futuristic feel.

The script has been tweaked by Jonathan Holloway to reinforce its relevance and given an engaging local spin. Reference is made at one point to a future Brize Norton Airport, for example.

Creation’s achievement is as mindblowing as the ‘Soma’ drug trips with which the characters self-medicate.

The story follows anti-hero Bernard Marx (Joseph Richardson) and the beautiful and uninhibited party girl Poppy Crowne (Sophie Greenham), to whom he is platonically attracted – romance and attachment being strictly forbidden in this world of non-reproductive sex.

Bernard’s boss, the director of Hatcheries and Conditioning, (a stern marvellously moustached Eric McLennan) wants rid of him though – setting off a battle of wits which, with the arrival of the noble John ‘Savage’ (Adam Karrie) threatens to undermine him and the system.

This salutory tale packs a powerful punch with a strong moral – an observation on our readiness to ditch our principles when we are winning.

What elevates this production to the status of theatrical masterpiece is the strength of the acting, eye-popping costume design and its setting in that temple to consumerism, the Westgate – our very own brave new world.

* Brave New World runs until August 11 at The Westgate Centre, Oxford. Go to creationtheatre.co.uk