"A corner of Shakespeare's Empire has undergone a subtle change. It has not been ruthlessly invaded, it has not even been quietly exploited. But for those who were at Aldeburgh on June 11, and for those who will follow them to Britten's new opera in the months and years to come, Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream will never quite be the same again." Thus wrote David Drew in The New Statesman in 1960. Unfortunately I was unable to see that production but I did hear it on the radio and even without the visual action I remember being spell-bound by the music.

James Conway's production with Joanna Parker's beautiful design of Britten's masterpiece certainly maintains that magical differentiation which Britten's music suggests. The opening of Act 1 to the slow pianissimo rising and falling of the strings of the orchestra shows a grassy bank running across the stage with a fallen tree straddling it and all bathed in a mysterious pale twilight with a few sparkling lights, like glow-worms, shining through the reed-like grass. You are immediately transported to the realm of Oberon and Tytania as the fairies enter singing "Over hill, over dale, thorough bush, thorough briar" in treble-like voices. Thus is the whole atmosphere for the first two Acts created and maintained for the mysteries of the night to unfold. My only criticism would be the superfluous use of the rope "fence" at the side of the stage as though there was some barrier around the fairies playground to deter mortals from entering. The fairies are wonderful throughout, moving with grace and singing with feeling and magical quality.

As Britten uses Shakespeare's text, which most readers will I hope be familiar with, I have no intention of giving a synopsis of the work, but rather will I concentrate on the performance. Within the score of this opera lies some of the most extraordinary music Britten wrote, and such was his genius that he is able often in a short phrase or a few notes to evoke a whole world of emotion or humour. The orchestral playing under the baton of Michael Rosewell conveyed these nuances admirably, and there were moments of real magic in the music.

Ten years either side of the first performance I was very active in the choral world as a treble and then a tenor. As a result I performed on occasions with several of the members of that first cast, including Jennifer Vyvyan, April Cantelo, Marjorie Thomas and Alfred Deller. So for better or worse I have always had a level of expectation when I attend performances of work I have heard them sing.

I am going to work backwards through the principals starting with the Duke of Athens and the Queen of the Amazons and work forwards. Nicholas Lester as Theseus and Hippolyta played by Lise Christensen were fine. The four lovers, sung by Niamh Kelly (Hermia), Laura Mitchell (Helena), Michael Bracegirdle (Lysander) and Robert Davies (Demetrius) performed well individually, and in their wonderful quartet "And I have found Demetrius like a jewel. Mine own, and not mine own " which rises like the sun coming up in the dawn light and shimmers away again as in the early mist. I was particularly impressed by the secure line and vocal colour of Robert Davies.

I always feel that the roles of the Mechanicals are a gift to the singers, but in reality they are difficult roles musically. There was no weak link here, and the ensemble was very entertaining. Andrew Slater deserves particular mention for his performance as Bottom, which was not only entertaining but also sympathetically handled.

The casting of David Gooderson as Puck was very intelligent, not only did he perform well, but his physique is perfect for the role.

We then come to the lynch pins of the whole piece, Tytania and Oberon. I am afraid that it is here that I was disappointed. Gillian Ramm I thought performed well, and her singing was a joy to listen to but a lot of the words were lost through lack of clear diction.
Jonathan Peter Kenny,s projection, particularly in the lower register, was totally inadequate for the theatre. Again, partly due to that problem, the words were lost. I have no doubt that in a smaller venue it will be much improved, but if the company are to perform in Sadlers Wells again, or in any other larger venue, it would be wise to check out vocal projections and vocal/orchestral balance factors beforehand.

Recommended for its magical quality. Check dates for your area through www.englishtouringopera.org.uk

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Gillian Plowman's play was first produced in 1988, and this revival seems to have kept faith with that era; something about the particular tenor of desperation and isolation in the characters' lives belongs to an earlier time. Quite possibly this is due to the lack of technology in their lives, and it is revealing and slightly uncomfortable to think that Plowman may have captured something about the way people relate to each other and their own lives that has been lost with the excessive mediation that technology provides nowadays.

That said, the very human stories which are so bleakly and powerfully played out here could belong to any time in the modern era. From the middle of the 1980s increasing numbers of patients from mental hospitals were being discharged to live in 'the community'. This play examines the difficulties of four of them, two men and two women, in coming to terms with their past and struggling to adapt to 'normal' life. Bunny and Oz, the two guys, live together in a flat downstairs from Robin and Julia, but it is only during the course of the play that they become aware of each others' existence.

The first act is a by turns grimly comic and then agonising depiction of Bunny and Oz in their bachelor pad; as Oz helps (and hinders) Bunny in preparing for an interview the frailties and fantasies of each man come out in slices of make-believe role play or retreats into painful memories from before their admission into hospital. This movement within memory and imagination is handled to great effect by the actors and the lighting design. As the play progresses it becomes evident that whatever treatment they have received inside the hospital it has not helped them deal with the difficulties that took them there in the first place.

What they rely on now is each other, and while these friendships are born of circumstance and wreathed in desperation, they are also deeply touching. The wracking shame which the two women suffer over crimes done to themselves and others enable them to at least have an outlet with one another for when the pain gets too extreme. These experiences and relationships are completely convincing - a testament both to Plowman's writing and the efforts of cast and director.

The play is harrowing, but it is certainly not without humour; the characters are well-drawn and full of often amusing idiosyncrasies. The red dress which Oz decides to wrap up and deposit outside the women's flat (he used to be a postie and likes to believe he still is, or could be), functions as a symbol of desire that is both dangerous yet also hopeful. When the four characters are finally brought together in the final act, what starts out well doesn't, I'm glad to say, lead to any trite happy endings - but nonetheless it is a relief to at least see these people finally speak to someone besides their one friend with whom they live in stifling co-dependency.

The Pentameters Theatre is a fantastic space, and with four wonderful performances from Polly Banwell (Julia), Simon Burbage (Oz), Jason Carter (Bunny) and Antonia Oliver (Robin), this play was a troubling joy to watch.

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In this trio of short plays, writer Cyd Casados shows us her varied repertoire with three pleasingly different works but struggles to truly capture the audience with her stories.

The opening performance Do Not Call is thoroughly high concept, as a postal worker committing suicide is interrupted by a telesales call. It's a pithy work which manages to rise some warm laughs from its premise alone but Casados misses a trick by failing to scratch the surface of the scenario and despite a neat bookend to the scene, it feels unexplored.

This is followed by The Interview which follows Elizabeth as she faces the job interview from hell - in more ways than one. This is a conceptually vague but ambitious play which seems to owe more than a slight debt to the internet TV series Mr Diety. It's a cute satire on big business with fine performances from Tova Leigh as Elizabeth and Laura Pradelska as her dogmatic interviewer Liv. In this the writing becomes braver and more fragrant and whilst the final section of it never truly gels, it remains an imaginative riff on corporations while taking a playful swipe at the social construction of womanhood to boot.

The closing piece, On the Permanence of Fugitive Colours, is a two-hander between a sex-worker and her client, an artist, as the closeness and intimacy between them blossoms. Natasha Staples and Bruce Lawrence's performances are relaxed and convincing as lovers even if the characters they are playing are a tad unbelievable. But the text remains creative uses the motif of painting effectively without drifting into esoteric or pretentious territory and the payoff at the end is predictable but rumbles with feeling.

However in this, and the opening two works, Casados's writing is packed full of intriguing ideas but these unfortunately do not translate into hugely watchable characters one can empathise with. I kept longing to plumb the depths of the situations on stage and was slightly disappointed. It also has to be said that whilst scene changes are rarely the focus of any audience, the switches from scene to scene were significantly overlong and had the effect of breaking the momentum the piece had created. Nonetheless Casados is able to move through the gears from comedy to drama efficiently and there is plenty for audiences to get their teeth into.

Casados and Sam German prove competent if unspectacular directors and manage to craft some nimble images on stage and create unity between the diverse source material, demonstrating there is potential for compelling work ahead.

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