Shakespeare’s Globe and Liverpool Everyman & Playhouse are known for their innovative and unusual productions, and this is certainly true in the case of their current production . . . The youthful exuberance of the play is showcased in the company’s modern interpretation as they lift it from its traditional setting and place it in 1966.

A Midsummer Night’s Dream is a pretty madcap play, so I thought it would work well with Creation’s usual unconventional style. I knew that everyone was split into groups in advance, and that we would all regroup at some point. We were sent our starting location a few days in advance, and met at the agreed spot. This is a fun idea, and spending a beautiful summer evening strolling around Oxford is never a bad thing.

Creation Theatre always takes an unconventional spin on Shakespeare, and their Hamlet is no different. This production begins with a van-load of players arriving in a beat-up transit van and setting up the stage together in front of the audience. The aesthetic of the props and costumes is shabby chic meets steampunk, but other than this, the setting of the play isn’t especially modernised . . . The tale is a tragic one: Hamlet hears of the death of his father, the king, and the swift remarriage of his mother to his uncle Claudius, who claims the crown.

This week the Burton Taylor Studio and the Old Fire Station have teamed up to put on the Off Beat Festival – fifty shows over seven nights, including comedy, theatre, poetry, and dance. There’s something for every palate in the smorgasbord of shows. We could happily attend twice the number of shows than those we’ve signed up for, but there aren’t enough hours in the week. So, we have selected six events that we fancied – ones that we already knew about or those that looked good on paper. Or we left the decision entirely to chance and let the fickle finger of fate decide. Luckily our smorgasbord turned out to be a very mixed and succulent selection . . .