Shakespeare’s midsummer comedy is an annual fixture at this address – understandably so, since the blend of dreamlike plot, nodding roses and lengthening shadows can prove quite magical. This year’s production comes with a twist, however. The play has been “reconceived” for younger audiences: this means it has been cut, and so, though still delivered in Shakespeare’s words, runs at under two hours. It also has a prologue to explain matters, with Bottom the Weaver giving an outline of the plot.

This is fair enough – there is, after all, a precedent within the play itself, when the mechanicals offer a digest of Pyramus and Thisbe. The difficulty is that A Midsummer Night’s Dream is one of those plays that resists précis; like a complex joke, the more you explain it, the more complicated it seems to become. And I was unconvinced by the playroom concept for the production, with each of the characters played by a figure from the toy box (Lysander and Demetrius as clockwork soldiers; Hermia and Helena as dolls). While this gives unity and appeals to a child’s understanding, it adds yet another layer to an already intricate piece.