Cakes and Ale's latest production of a Shakespearean classic opens to the sound of the cast singing heartily and the sight of them getting dressed. They'd just dashed down from chatting to the audience in a genial manner; if only this care and attention for the audience had continued through the whole production.

Shakespeare's extraordinary story of one woman's defeat by a man is considered one of his wittiest, and one that also (bizarrely) provides a wealth of opportunities for a cast to fill an audience with laughter and happiness. With the exception of a handful of moments, that just didn't happen. Cakes and Ale managed to suck all the joy out of a great play. It felt like I was watching a jazz performance where my mind could wander and allow the action to wash over me. Not the desired effect for one of Shakespeare's finest plays!

The costume was unimaginative, and failed to place the action in any particular place or time - it gave the unfortunate impression that someone had just raided a local school costume cupboard, and the result was thus neither contemporary nor contemporaneous with the script. The accents used by the actors did not place us anywhere other than the "School of crazy accents". This is a terrific script, and the cast at least managed to handle the humour well at points, raising laughs by mugging and gagging to the audience, even if they did overegg the slapstick element. But perhaps they're a company that likes to play to the groundlings!

If you're a fan of Shakespeare, this may not be likely to please you; if you've never seen The Shrew before, it's well worth a cautious look.

Ben Whitehouse, 19.08.03