Without the use of scenery, and barely any props, students from Brighton’s Academy Of Creative Training relied on powerful music and imaginative acting for dramatic effect.

Hermia (Rachel Young) and her lover Lysander (Matt Eden) flee from Athens to avoid Hermia’s impending marriage to her father’s chosen suitor, Demetrius (Robert Knowles).

However, chocolate-munching Helena is also in love with Demetrius and Clare Burt effectively captured Helena’s naïve, self-deprecating pursuit of her spurning beau, who only retorts: “I am sick when I look on thee”.

Gareth Clark was hilarious as Nick Bottom, and Fiona McGonigle was bewitching as his seductress, the Fairy Queen, Titania.

Director Ralf Higgins said: “This dream is closer to a nightmare; the course of true love never did run smooth, especially when death threats are issued willynilly and your beloved goes bi-polar on you.”

There were a few fluffed lines but they could be excused as it was a long play, and the theatre was sweltering.

With influences ranging from David Lynch to Japanese artist Yoshitomo Nara, this contemporary re-interpretation of Shakespeare’s classic comedy encompassed many scary and comical moments.