Marc West finds himself a willing participant in the weirdest wedding yet – an innovative production of A Midsummer Night’s Dream

As far as wedding invitations go it was one of the more unusual for sure.

Just 24 hours before the big day an email dropped into my inbox with an utterly mysterious set of instructions.

I was told to meet outside the old Red Lion Brewery just before sunset on a positively balmy eve and be prepared for all eventualities. Above all, I was not to trust anyone under six inches tall. So, I donned my best bib and tucker, pinned on my floral buttonhole and waited with baited breath, but what happened next exceeded my most wildest of dreams!

This was far from just a trip to the theatre. It’s a mad night out on the town – one of those you’ll probably struggle to fully remember, yet certainly never forget. The whirlwind of activity leaves onlookers gobsmacked by our bizarre antics, involving shaking bushes to tickle unseen creatures within, intervening with sparring lovers in the street and effectively breaking into a café.

Describing this show as an interactive immersive adventure doesn’t really do the production justice – it’s also a masterpiece of timing, choreography and logistics herding us hapless cousins from pillar to post around OX1. All the while, the shrewd and knavish sprite Agent Puck is continually trying his darndest to lead us astray and make us late for the big event.

A Midsummer Night’s Dream is (arguably) Shakespeare’s greatest play and for my money this is almost certainly its most ambitious production in its more than 400-year history.

Director Zoe Seaton has taken a wrecking ball to the fourth wall and rebuilt the Bard’s production brick by brick for today’s modern audience. Alongside the live dialogue we’re bombarded by a menagerie of multimedia texts, Skype and CCTV – to tell the story of the events surrounding the marriage of Theseus the Duke of Athens to Hippolyta the Amazon Queen like it’s never been told before.

Wandering wide-eyed and following fairy footsteps on the streets it’s almost impossible to tell who’s a player or simply a passer-by until the action unfolds and envelops us too.

Finally, we all arrive at St Thomas The Martyr’s Church for the moonlit meeting of matrimony – where the slapstick lovers’ spat outside is so convincing even the local constabulary swing past to check all’s well. It’s this successful blurring of fantasy and reality that’s left me unsure to this day if it was all nothing more than a dream…as I kick-off my shoes and look over my shoulder one last time.

Creation Theatre Company celebrate 20 years at the cutting edge of theatrical innovation in 2016 and this (their 58th) show is yet another you just have to experience to believe. It runs until 30th July and tickets are still available via creationtheatre.co.uk.