‘A Midsummer Night’s Dreaming’ is the first part of a double feature, the result of a lovely initiative between the universities of Leeds and UIBE in China. Inspired by Shakespeare and Tang Xianzu, the students explore the theme of dreaming. The premise of the show fires your imagination, yet the reality of the performance is underwhelming. The young cast take on the lovers’ parts of the Shakespeare play, and the company make some daring changes to the characters, adding iPhones, modern speech, and three Chinese spirits into the mix. It has innocence and good intentions, but lacks precision and complexity. I had a nice time, certainly, but nothing that got me dreaming.

theSpace on Niddry St, until 13 Aug.
tw rating 2/5 | [Aida Rocci]