<a href="http://pigyard.com/wordpress/?attachment_id=302" rel="attachment wp-att-302"><img class=" wp-image-302 alignleft" title="rsc-meaure-for-measure(jan12)" src="http://pigyard.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2012/01/rsc-meaure-for-measurejan12-300x200.jpg" alt="" width="240" height="160" /></a>We booked this last year as part of our resolution to experience more live events. Although Stratford on Avon is only an hour's drive from home we decided to stay in a B&amp;B that we'd used before. On arrival we were greeted like long lost friends so it was a good start.

After a wander round Stratford we had a pre theatre meal at a Weatherspoons - good on value and you get what you pay for but atmosphere is sadly lacking.

We had great seats in the Swan Theatre and were ready for a play we knew very little about other than what we read in the programme whilst we waited for the curtain to go up. Not that there is a curtain at the Swan. The audience sit on three sides of a projecting stage and actors are just as likely to make an entrance from behind as they are from the front.

Shakespeare for us mere mortals is always challenging because you have to concentrate on what is being said in such a prosaic style. The story is a complex one and depicts the issues around outwardly puritan values struggling with the fact that power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely. All this corruption is centred on sexual favours in Vienna at a time of increasing debauchery. There is, as in many Shakespeare plays, one character deceptively playing two people and if the subject matter wasn't so dark it could be considered farcical. It had the dark side but also a strong element of humour some of it not totally contained in the original script which for us was very funny but I'm sure the purists would be cringing. So we enjoyed it very much and it has confirmed that we should do this more often and get some more Shakespeare experiences in the next twelve months.

The production has received some damning reviews for various reasons but I think it demonstrates that we definitely shouldn't listen to critics because we don't share the same highly critical values.