For me, the high-spot of every year at the Everyman is, with the possible exception of the pantomime, the annual visit of Propeller. The current tour presents A Midsummer Night’s Dream and The Comedy of Errors. No other theatre company presents plays with such a consistently high standard or with such power and originality.

I am sure some people are still put off by the idea of an all male company presenting Shakespeare. I must admit that, before I first saw them four or five years ago, I had the idea that it might be, if you’ll pardon the expression, a load of old poofs camping it up. Nothing could be further from the truth. The productions are powerful, assertive and aggressive. To portray female characters they simply don a dress with varying degrees of grotesqueness. Of course Shakespeare had no female actresses to work with so all the women were played by men. To alleviate their struggles the Bard would often then get the female characters to impersonate men.

Propeller’s visit to the Everyman certainly started with a bang. The Comedy of Errors is perhaps one of Shakespeare’s most farcical plays – or at least has the potential for farcical presentation. Edward Hall and his men took no prisoners with their production which was the proverbial helter-skelter, roller-coaster, non-stop, breathtaking ride with, it must be said, elements of pantomime.

The play is based entirely on mistaken identity. There are two sets of twins who do not know of each other’s existence. Nobody else knows there are two of them either. So, as you can imagine, lots of unrelenting fun ensues when the various characters think they are speaking to one of the twins when in fact they are speaking to the other. Luckily the audience does not have this problem as it was quite clear which was which, or was it?

The setting was transposed from ancient Greece to some generic South American state down Mexico way with lots of sombreros, flowered shirts, maracas and carnival lights. Of course, when you do this it seems a bit odd to have dukes talking about Syracuse – and not the New York State one.

The two sets of twins were fine but it was the female characters who dominated. James Tucker was excellent as Adriana, the confused wife who is married to one of the twins but is not sure which is which and, of course, ends up embarrassing herself with the wrong one. She comes across as something between Widow Twanky and Bet Lynch hobbling around on her stiletto heels in leopard skin leggings and Matthew Pearson was as sexy as I imagine he could get as the Courtesan with bunny accoutrements. However, if you thought they were grotesque wait till you see Alasdair Craig as Aemilia, the Lady Abbess.

All in all The Comedy of Errors was a lot of fun. If you ever thought Shakespeare is not for you, that it’s boring and incomprehensible, go and see Propeller, they’ll put you right.      ★★★★★

A Midsummer Night’s Dream was a different kettle of fish entirely and one I preferred. It must be said that Dream is a much better play than Errors. It has depth, richness, variety and a host of more interesting characters. Errors is basically one joke that is exploited with a lot of running around and silliness.

Visually, Dream was handsome. The deceptively simple box set lined with coarse netting and suspended chairs changed with every lighting cue and created the perfect ambiance in which to watch the amazing production.

There were a lot of choreographed set pieces but less music than usual. The music was always there but used more as sound effects. Again, the acting was a master class in precise and creative teamwork (I wonder if there is a Propeller football team) and, as is often the case with this play, it was Bottom who stole the show along with the other pseudo Dad’s Army Mechanicals. Chris Myles excelled as the over keen and ambitious weaver who is transformed from one sort of ass to another. His only consolation was that his bobbin got a lot bigger. I also liked Alasdair Craig again. It is inevitable that his long, tall physique will contribute to any role he plays, as it did in Comedy of Errors, but I found his Flute almost the funniest thing in Dream. There were tears rolling down my cheek after the botched performance of Pyramus and Thisbe.

What is good about Propeller is their consistency. Every one’s a winner and the only variants are the quality of the original play viz Dream v Errors. It is rare that you can toddle off to see a play in the certain knowledge that it will be good. Top actors, leading directors, and certainly revered playwrights, have their off days. Not so with Propeller it seems. I have now seen half a dozen of their productions and I can’t think of any that was less than brilliant. I don’t what their secret is, but I wish I did. ★★★★★      Michael Hasted

Please note, the actors in the photo are not necessarily the ones appearing in Cheltenham this week.