This was well worth the wait!

DELAYED by a 25-minute glitch with the set’s vital revolving stage this was a slow and steady burner at first but steadily picked up and, in the end, made it well worth the wait.

A hit film and now a hit stage play, through Lee Hall’s adaptation of Marc Norman and Tom Stoppard’s original screenplay, it has a certain chemistry that weaves its way around your little finger with some delightful comedic moments and utterances.

On the downside, but only slightly, there are times when some tightening up - a little shortening here and there, would not go amiss, but at two hours and 30 minutes it isn’t overtly long and when the cast deliver their play within a play, Romeo and Juliet - minus the ‘pirate and a dog’ - it’s terrific fun.

It’s virtually a comic strip send-up of the theatrical ‘likely lads’ of Elizabeth I’s reign in the latter part of the 16th century - William Shakespeare and Christopher ‘Kit’ Marlowe - portrayed as close confidantes although from distinctly different backgrounds.

Their careers had just about hit the buffers, not that there were such things in those Elizabethan days.

As they sought salvation and that spark of genius, the capital’s theatres and its actors were constantly under threat from the Establishment. However, here is a Queen who loves the theatre - especially when there’s a dog in the play!

The bad Bard, already married to Anne who is back home in Stratford-upon-Avon, falls in love with an already betrothed woman… an affair that eventually sees his quill rise sublimely to the challenge.

As in reality, the rest - as is often said - is history.

The sizeable cast, which has a fair sprinkling of youth and experience, is a delicious blend and there are several outstanding performances and occasions of exceptional choreography.

Pierro Niel-Mee’s Shakespeare and Edmund Kingsley’s Marlowe combined well, while the love interest provided by Imogen Daines’ Viola de Lesseps, was sheer quality.

Elsewhere Bill Ward’s forceful and pompous Lord Wessex, Ian Hughes’ put-upon theatre impresario Henslowe, and Rob Edwards’ Fennyman, the financial backer, all added to the enjoyment and the list goes on…

The one disappointment, and not for the first time this year, was the lack of support on the opening night from county theatregoers when there’s such a quality production right on the doorstep.

Hopefully audience figures will pick up as the week goes on. It’s the least this hugely enjoyable play and talented cast deserves.