Maud is a complex poem to portray on stage. Originally described as a monodrama and comedic poem it is at once both and neither of these and last night's adaptation, written and directed by Tabitha Hayward, explored both these elements and the many other facets of the poem, emphasizing the depths of despair, vainglorious love and the febrile descent into madness of its narrator.

From the carefully spoken and carefully selected lines of the opening of the play, where the narrator imagines himself in a shallow grave constantly disturbed by the feet and hooves of others passing overhead, the audience were enthralled by the darkness and depth of despair portrayed by Johnny Lucas. He was at his best when gently elucidating the bitter sweet 'come into the garden Maud' stanza from the poem; his most fearful and threatened whenever the echoes of hooves passed over his grave, or indicated the return of Maud's brother or pursuit by her other wealthy suitor and his most desperate when exploring his feelings for Maud through the romantic ideal of a garden.

Maud herself is a spectral image in the poem and on stage where this etherealism is effectively represented in the imagery back-projected on the simple set. Here the garden and nature itself are at once romantic clichés and complex, dark images and this is reflected in the language, delivery and intricate interaction between Johnny Lucas and his set. At times he speaks softly, fondly and lovingly of Maud and the garden which becomes an image of Eden; she an unattainable, perfect being in this setting but the language of the poem and the play challenge these notions of perfection and tear down the clichés of romantic love leaving the bitter taste of the ashes of loneliness, darkness and despair. Ultimately the narrator rejects his image of the perfect Maud and in his bitterness imagines her diminished by old age.

This is a play which explores the dark, brooding, negative and self-destructive areas of the human psyche – suicide, rejection, pain and masochism – through the medium of Maud, the introspective view of the narrator and the sustained efforts of Johnny Lucas. It attempts to place its narrator in context both big and small and to give insight not only to personal motivation but also to the larger physical and psychological factors at play in a man's life. Unfortunately, as with much of life, there is no happy ending but for those, like me, who thought Maud was poetically a pleasant stroll in the garden this production is a revelation.