Timeless as it is, a Dream is seasonal, too — performing it in February, indoors, would fall slightly flat. So the cards are stacked in the Open Air Theatre’s favour, its faux ruins and amphitheatre feel making it the perfect setting for fairy-filled romance. “Reimagining” it for those aged six and over basically means simplifying it, but the piece has been intelligently edited — after a brief introduction by Bottom in modern English, we move into chunks of the Shakespearian text. That said, this is one for the children: the theme of the production is the playroom, with the quartet of warring lovers dressed up as miniature soldiers and dolls, and a huge toy box as the key prop. The director, Dominic Leclerc, makes a cunning move in using audience members in the cast, turning Duke Theseus into a tiny schoolboy, or a bewildered schoolgirl into the hapless Wall in the play-within-a-play that is Pyramus and Thisbe. Switching between the interlinked plots, you remember what a complicated conceit this is — but it’s nothing a child well acquainted with video games can’t negotiate. By pushing the panto side and expending a lot of energy, the cast — only six of them — create something vivid and intelligent.

Eulalia, 10, says: “I really liked it, Puck especially [Matthew Hart]. The production made you think about things. It was really funny in parts.”

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