The course of true love never did run smooth, and nowhere is this more apparent than in A Midsummer Night’s Dream.  Adelaide College of the Arts’ version is charming enough for Shakespearean traditionalists, yet easy and glossy enough for the avant-garde.

Rhys McConnochie’s vigilant, spirited and demonstrative direction is staged over a huge circular bed which captures both the absurdity and incongruity of the play.  This is where the hippy faeries, the mechanical thespians and the lovers – all dressed in bedtime-attire  – unleash their magnetism with comical and tetchy performances.

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Yet there is expressive profundity as well as the obligatory comedy in this fine production. Mikaela Davies is unassailable yet almost ethereal as Hermia, while Clara Sally-Slade is striking as Helena. There is a captivating ingenuousness about both these young women in love which is increasing sincere by the end of all the bewilderment in the Athenian forest. David Geddes is simply magnificent as Bottom and his comic timing, expression and asinine behaviour is hilarious and thoroughly enjoyable.

This is an endearing, curious and likeable production because it finds a balanced tone that many versions of this illustrious play fail to deliver.

With the help of charismatic players, some subtle lighting, smart direction and a satisfying escapism, A Midsummer Night’s Dream is an impressive and entertaining adventure that maintains a reverence to the playwright.

AC Arts is presenting A Midsummer Night’s Dream at Main Theatre, 39 Light Square, until June 26.