Review: As You Like It, Royal Shakespeare Theatre, Stratford

But if Shakespeare's cross-dressing plot is improbable, you can't argue with the sheer enthusiasm of Maria Aberg's cracking production.

There are some great performances, notably by Nicolas Tennant as Touchstone the fool, who departs from the script to swap notes with a married man in the audience, and John Stahl as a towering and terrifying Duke Frederick. The music is original and excellent.

This is a play where one woman triumphs. Pippa Nixon is Rosalind, the exiled girl disguised as a boy in the Forest of Arden and testing the strength of Orlando's professed love for her.

Nixon is simply electric, dominating the stage and winning the affections of a packed theatre. She is wildly energetic one moment, taut and controlled the next. This is the perfect vehicle for a young actress who is clearly going places.

One complaint. At 3hrs 20mins, it's too long. A little trimming would turn a fine show into a great one. As You Like It is at Stratford until September 28.

By Peter Rhodes