The lack of good roles for women means that the current vogue for all-male Shakespeare should perhaps be deplored. But I am in forgiving mood after seeing Edward Hall's Dream. It is with his regular all-male ensemble that Hall does his best work, including the excellent Rose Rage and the heart-breaking Twelfth Night, and the intimate space of the Watermill seems to bring out the best in him and in Shakespeare.
This Dream seems as much touched by the goblins as the fairies, and there is something slightly twisted in the magic that crosses the conjuror's box of tricks with the invention of a child's dressing-up game. While the fairy world is in rich colour (Puck wears stripy red tights and a tutu), the humans are in black and white.
There is never any doubt that what we are seeing here is a performance. The chairs suspended around the stage clearly suggest that, offering an added dimension to the playing space and the impression of a potential audience. The air is filled with eerie music, all pip and squeak and fantastically effective.
I have seldom been so moved by the reconciliation of the lovers, human and fairy. The comedy is also deftly played and, although I suffered my usual sense-of-humour failure during the Pyramus and Thisbe sequence, I did enjoy Simon Scardifield's marvellous hissy fit as a Starveling reluctant to play Moonshine. He is also a most distinctive Puck. Every performance is fantastic. The power of this evening is cumulative, made up of tiny things: Helena's surprised "oh" when Lysander declares his love for her, Bottom's toothy delight in being the fairy queen's lover, the erotic charge between Oberon and Titania. It really is magic.
· Until March 22. Box office: 01635 46044. Then touring.
