PETER Barnes' Dreaming turned out to be a bit of a nightmare. The play was disjointed and repetitive. It was billed as a "breathtakingly" funny play but a lot of the jokes could have been lifted from a student rag-mag. Supposedly a "life-affirming struggle" to find love in the ruins of the bloody aftermath of the War Of the Roses, it was far too unsubtle as it tackled the big issues of love and death.

It is difficult to pick out parts which I liked, not because there weren't plenty of instances where the play was genuinely funny or genuinely dramatic and engaging.

Wasted

But those bits which I enjoyed seemed wasted because they were casually thrown on the stage and then taken off again.

The characters are making a journey from war to peace as they leave the battle field after Richard of Gloucester's triumph.

But none of the characters seem to make any real progress as ideas rattle around the play without falling into place.

There was a sense the play had been written by someone with little understanding or sympathy with the craft of writing.

But Peter Barnes is a very experienced writer with scores of plays under his belt.

There is much talk during the play of how time's arrow only points in one direction.

But it appears Barnes decided to go back to the workshop to make something experimental.

Unfortunately it has come out as a rather shoddy and clumsily piece of work.

The costumes were magnificent and the visual appearance of the play was really a feast for the eye.

What a shame the brilliant actors, who had to sing as well as act, had such a thin and frustratingly insubstantial play to act in. MATTHEW TAYLOR

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