What's with the pianos? No sooner has Calixto Bieito made one the central motif in his deconstruction of Hamlet than Dominic Hill uses one to provide the "food of love" for his superb production of Shakespeare's comedy of mix-and-match lovers.
This one sits to the side of the stage and plays itself. Sometimes it adds to the fun, notably after the interval when it performs a hilarious duet of The Entertainer with Thane Bettany's ruminative Feste. More tellingly, it sets the tone of the production with its ominous bass rumbling.
For the prevalent sense here is one of unease, despite the show's easy way with comic banter and sure-footed sense of the farce that builds when a girl dressed as a boy is mistaken for her long-lost identical twin brother. In Hill's interpretation - his first since taking over the artistic directorship of the Dundee ensemble in tandem with James Brining - there is a recurring look of bewilderment on the actors' faces. It is as if they are lost on the stage, desperately clinging to any passing emotion for safety, sorely in need of the plot to sort things out. They are frightened puppets, yearning for love, seeking it in all the wrong places and desperate for resolution.
The difference between this and more crudely fashioned stagings is that it is played for real, not for laughs. Even when John Buick's Malvolio appears in the most outrageous of costumes, supposedly to appeal to Irene Macdougall's high-minded Olivia, he does it with serious intent. No pantomime winks to the audience here. In truth, he is no more deluded than Olivia herself, who has fallen for a woman disguised as a man: Emily Pollet, excellent as a fresh-faced Viola.
All this takes place on Tom Piper's brilliant surrealist set, at once inside and outside, inland and offshore. It suggests some Edwardian neverland: half drawing-room, half beach, and is as dislocated as those who pass before us.
The production has character but no clutter, allowing each scene to segue swiftly into the next while keeping the focus on an assured ensemble. It is confident, mature and rich in detail, and augurs great things for the rep's new regime.
· Until September 20. Box office: 01382 342611.
