I HAVE seen A Midsummer Night's Dream many times, but last night at The Courtyard was one of the first times I was enthralled throughout the whole play.

I can say, without a doubt, that the theatre's Senior Youth Theatre Production of the Shakespeare play was the best I have seen.

When I saw the play before, I became more than a little muddled, but the way the young cast put the story across made utter sense to me.

Director Dan Pegler decided to set his version of the play in 1920s Sicily, with Hermia running away from her Mafia dad, Egeus, to marry Lysander.

Oberon is depicted as a Mafia boss who does not like to get his hands dirty and Bottom is turned into a member of the Mafia, rather than an ass. It was a brilliant depiction. 

The most entertaining scenes were when Peter Quince and his troupe were on stage practising their play of The Tragedy of Pyramus and Thisbe.

Not only were the costumes bright and bizarre, with added creepy masks, but the strange sounds and movements of the actors were a sight to behold and also very funny. I couldn't wait until they were back on stage again.

All of the young cast were extremely impressive and delivered the complicated and intense words of Shakespeare with ease.

The set was very simple with a single door in the centre of the stage but nothing more was needed, due to the brilliance of the actors.

A Midsummer Night's Dream runs at The Courtyard in Hereford until Saturday, July 29. To book, call the box office on 01432 340555 or visit courtyard.org.uk