A Midsummer Night's Dream (Royal National Theatre), at Colne Municipal Hall

SOMETHING unusual was on the cards with the 'Muni' being adapted to theatre in the round.

Just how unusual and exciting an evening it would turn out to be came as a pleasant shock.

It was slow going at first, with a pretentious forty-minute warm up, which consisted of 10 minutes of acting and the rest was navel gazing.

Apart from providing the interval, this served little purpose and made it a long night.

When we eventually reached the play, the difficult first scene was poor, as if they were acting the 'ands' and commas, however with the entry of the 'rude mechanicals' the play took off and henceforth was wonderful.

Everything is superb, the acting, the staging, the costumes and the innovative use of four dress rails, which astonishingly added tension, speed and daring to the production.

Eight actors played all the characters at break-neck speed, triumphantly bringing out all the humour of Shakespeare's timeless prose.

The two hours without a break passed as swiftly as Puck's 'girdle round the earth'.

Puck (Tom Anderson) was a riot, but I won't spoil the surprise by revealing why. It's touring the area, selling to packed audiences. Watch out for it.

BRENDA KEAN