This was a modern dress production, set around a city bar called Messina - and the alcohol is depicted as contributing to the protagonists' wayward plots, plans, and perceptions of each other!

Beatrice and Benedick are the core of this play, even if the main narrative is spun around the fraught relationship between Claudio and Hero. They carry the burden of both comedy and pathos, so the actors playing those roles have to be convincing as lovers, even if ones who perpetually needle each other. The chemistry of this couple (Chloe Orrock and Kieran Donnelly) worked excellently as they struck sparks off each other and eventually found a convincing rapprochement.

It's probably not unfair to say that the cast was a little uneven: the players had varying amounts of stage experience, and not all were confident in projection and connection with the audience. But this was a first night, and learning how to use the space is a necessary part of the task.

In fact the rooftop theatre at the Said Business School proved an excellent soundstage, under what was (despite forecasts) a very calm and clement sky. Open-air performance carries some risks, though the nearby police sirens as Borachio and Conrade are questioned about their misdemeanours might have been laid on! Scenery and props were minimalist, with the drinks bar getting neatly converted into an altar or a tomb where appropriate, and an inflatable sofa providing some flexible furnishing.

The 'masked ball' was imaginative, with some daftly amusing costumes (Spiderman, Wolverine and Wonder Woman!) heightening the absurdity of the mistaken identities and disguises, and the Act II 'garden scene' where Benedick is craftily convinced of Beatrice's love for him, is played around the bar with well-choreographed visual humour.

As a modern audience we're always left wondering whether Claudio really deserves Hero - the perception was probably different back in 1600, athough the end of the play sometimes carries some threat and foreboding. In this production though, revenge upon the fled Don John seems distant and unimportant, and we're left with an unreservedly up-beat ending to this very enjoyable play.