August Strindberg’s A Dream Play is as difficult for the actors and technical team to present as it can be for the audience to follow.

In last week’s excellent student production (so good I went twice), director Griffith Rees admirably fulfilled his mission (detailed in a programme note) to “delight, inspire, sadden and uplift”.

As for the audience, our ability to comprehend the influential, century-old exploration of the unconscious was significantly enhanced by the clarity of the production. Emma Reay’s lucid adaptation of the script played a big part in this.

The dream we are invited to share is that of the demi-goddess Agnes (Ali Walsh) who journeys from the blissful regions of heaven, ruled over by her father Indra (the suitably magisterial Will Hatcher), to experience life on Earth.

Here she finds much of the misery and cruelty said by her father to characterise human existence. But there is love, too. Though painfully rejected by the young soldier Alfie (Ollo Clark), who is besotted with the alluring but unobtainable opera singer Victoria (Susanna Quirke), she finds happiness for a time as the wife of the Lawyer (Matt Maltby) and mother of their engaging daughter Chrissy (delightfully presented by Lucy Fyffe).

Fine performances abounded across the large cast, with an especially moving contribution from Eleanor Hardy (pictured) as the much-put-upon servant Elsie.

David Allen’s imaginative, eclectic music, performed by a 21-strong orchestra, made an important contribution to setting the mood for this first-rate production — a credit to all concerned in it.