Moon Fool have been touring their show Ill Met by Moonlight under the auspices of Trestle Theatre Company, and they bring a whiff of Central European cabaret to their re-working of Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream.

They have produced a very entertaining piece in which the plot is stripped right down to the dispute between Titania and Oberon, and Titania’s dream of a liaison with an ass. Peter Swaffer-Reynolds is Puck, who is the narrator of the piece and also the manipulator of the other two cast members.

He addresses us throughout in a strangled croak, like a crow badly in need of a Strepsil. Slightly hunched, in a dark suit and big black specs, he is a fascinating figure, who displays for our entertainment Titania (Anna-Helena McLean), and Oberon (Chrisptopher Sivertsen), who doubles as Bottom during a realistic coupling deep in the woods.

The whole thing is put together like a gig in some small cabaret theatre, with Swaffer-Reynolds grinding out bits of Shakespeare’s original, and also muttering quirky, sardonic comments of his own on what’s happening. He is also a professional musician, and accompanies much of the performance on keyboards and an accordion, while McLean turns out to be an able cellist. But all this is a background to an intriguing production which encompasses physical theatre and even bits of dance. McLean in particular moves in a fluid, magical way, as we follow her strange experiences, while Sivertsen includes acrobatic handstands and other athletic feats in his role as Oberon, and manages to change character completely in the blink of an eye to become Bottom as the ass. His waking and remembering what seems to have happened are beautifully done, without the help of any prop.

This is a dark, sexy piece in which the nub of Shakespeare’s play is cleverly used as fodder for the many talents of the three performers. Ill Met by Moonlight is at The Cornerstone, Didcot, on March 11.