It begins with a bang. There is the sound of James Dean-style driving, a screech of tyres, the sound of a crash and shattering glass. As the smoke and dust clear, a woman clad in black leather is seen staggering down a road in the middle of a wood, pursued by a man. Hippolyta and Theseus are having a lovers' tiff. And no production of Shakespeare's play of love and transformations has ever begun in quite this way.
From the shock beginning to the all-singing, line-dancing, feel-good ending, Lucy Bailey's production shows invention and wit. It has style: in its depiction of Puck as a Swampy-style eco-warrior taking a bit of direct action against lampposts, and Tom Snout as a hell's angel on a bicycle; in the vision of Hermia packing toothbrush and inflatable pillow when she elopes, and in the gaggle of OAP fairies. And it sounds wonderful - unexpected, mysterious, joyous, sometimes all three simultaneously.
There is plenty of magic here, too, not least in the way the road cuts across the auditorium like a ley line, suggesting one of those strange portals where the fairy and human worlds meet. You never know whether the fairy world is encroaching on the human world or vice versa. We share the unease of Hermia, who panics when she finds herself alone and abandoned in the wood. But then her lover has just tried to smother her and soon will attempt to drown her. Maybe it is only the malignity of humans that needs to be feared.
This is a good evening's entertainment, but it would be a great one if it didn't try quite so hard, particularly in the closing stages, and if some of the central roles were played more strongly. The most unforced performances and greatest energy come from the quartet of young lovers, who play off each other with lovely physical assurance and a mixture of high spirits and heartbreak. Fenella Woolgar's Helena is a beauty, a real miracle of comic timing. She has such fun that the audience do too. And she makes it seem effortless. Now that is real magic.
· Until April 20. Box office: 0161-833 9833.
