Times have certainly changed. The last puppet show I remember watching featured a little yellow bear who waved a magic wand about and whispered in his master's ear.

By contrast, the cuddly characters from Avenue Q - a crummy street on the poor side of New York - swear like troopers, fornicate when the opportunity arises and watch internet porn while trying to discover the meaning of life.

And they call that progress!

To be fair Avenue Q, an x-rated version of Sesame Street inhabited by dolls with mouths dirty enough to make Joan Rivers blush, is irreverently funny, offensively entertaining and yet somehow manages to be cutesy and sweet at the same time.

The use of legless, hand-held puppets to convey a script that examines modern issues like racism, homophobia, social deprivation and the complexities of growing up, is an intriguing device which, in the hands of lesser talent, could fall desperately flat.

But the skills of Rachel Jerram, Chris Thatcher, Katherine Moraz and Adam Pettigrew, who employ a range of voices to give emotion to puppets like Kate Monster and her love interest Princeton, closet gay Rod and the internet addict Trekkie Monster, the wickedly mischievous Bad Idea Bears and Lucy the Slut, a vampish version of Miss Piggy, are something to envy and admire.

And I must add, the puppet-less support provided by Matthew J Henry, Jacqueline Tate and Edward Judge wasn't bad either.

Together they ease impressively through a variety of catchy song styles which poke fun at life and deliver a subtle plea for global harmony.

Yet after all the sharp, riotously rude satire that emphasised some uncomfortable home truths about human behaviour, I was not entirely convinced by the schmaltzy, happy-ever-after ending -- but I guess the audience would prefer that to the vision of these lovably funny fuzzballs going down with the slime. It is a musical after all.

Avenue Q runs at the Theatre Royal until Saturday. Tickets are £12-£32.50, call 0115 989 5555.

Andy Smart