Oddsocks returns to the region for a summer season of slick silliness, stopping off at Coventry's Belgrade Theatre before visits to several Midlands venues over the next month. This year's production is a crowd pleaser - Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream - albeit performed as it has never been seen before…

There is an irresistible charm surrounding the Oddsocks troupe. From the moment the audience starts to gather, the company is hell-bent on putting them at ease, and resolutely breaking down the fourth wall, as the actors chat with - and sometimes enlist the help of - the audience. The Players introduce themselves, donning punny alter-egos - there’s quite a Matryoshka of plays-within-plays in this production.

There are only five actors on stage, leading to some very speedy costume changes, and a bit of tactical stagecraft. Rebecca Little has a few thorny moments as she swaps between playing Stanley Cup-wielding Hermia and fairy trickster Puck, but all the company have their moments of glorious hat-swapping, as this Midsummer's evening descends into chaos.

The stage - or in this case, table - is set, at the Taste Of Athens restaurant, as Manager Phil (Ian Archdeacon) ushers in a couple on their first date. Hermia is paired with Lysander (Matthew Christmas), who is glued to his guitar, and stops to serenade her occasionally when overcome with poetry. Sparks fly, but Hermia’s rejected beaux Demetrius (Andy Barrow) muscles in to try and win her hand, with lovelorn cocktail waitress Helena (Elli Mackenzie) in his wake. 

Meanwhile the restaurant’s kitchen staff are planning to rehearse a Greek Tragedy that becomes most comical, and everyone heads to the forest, where they become embroiled in the antics of the resident fairies.

Oddsocks co-founders Andy Barrow and Ellie Mackenzie are on fine form in all of their various roles, anchoring the company with their 35 years of experience. Both Matthew Christmas and Rebecca Little already have a few Oddsocks appearances under their belts, while it's Ian Archdeacon's debut with the company.

The audience was a joyful mixture of ages, and as we filed out kids and grown-ups alike were cheerfully dissecting their favorite moments, while a group of teens giggled over the scandalously risqué bits. It’s frolicsome, mischievous and simply a good laugh for any Midsummer Night.

The play has been shuffled like a deck of cards, but it is still definitely Shakespeare - with plenty of quick-witted Oddsocks asides thrown in for good measure. A Midsummer Night's Dream has been brought squarely into the modern era, but as Puck waves the audience off with a daft physical gag, it just feels right - as though this madcap reimagining of the play is how it was always meant to be performed.