Pre-show juggler sets the scene
 
Ashcroft Theatre, Croydon
Shakespeare 4 Kidz

If you are going to catch this show today (Friday) - and hurry: it has performances at 10am and 1.30pm - try to get there a little before, to catch the pre-play entertainment. Ben Langley, who is a street entertainer at Covent Garden, has been engaged to provide some early fun, a spot of banter with the audience as they come in, and a touch of juggling.

It provides a neat introduction to a production that veers towards the pantomime effect. That might have the traditionalists popping with indignation, but it probably has the effect required, to make Shakespeare appealing to the young. It certainly did on Wednesday evening.

This enterprising company have taken  several of the Bard's best and enlivened them in a style which makes the story clearer, and the language more understandable.

This time Twelfth Night had the treatment and the rich array of characters who surround Sir Toby Belch provides ample opportunity for clowning. Alan Clarke as Malvolio in particular seized the chance. The change from grumpy man in black to beaming idiot in bright - "looking good in my yellow gear" - was splendidly achieved and led to the best song in the piece. Mark Lyminster blustered as Belch, and the long-haired and tall Jeremy Worsnip was the angular Sir Andrew Aguecheek.

Elsewhere the women sparkled. Jo-Anne Nighy played the love-torn Olivia with feeling, and Mia Taylor gave good support as her conniving maid.

But for me the best of all was the man in the usually so-so part of Duke Orsino. Here Tristan Carter, dressed in purple, made the most of the role with extravagantly flamboyant gestures, sinking with a theatrical sigh back into his chair as his overtures to Olivia are rejected