Ledbury audiences were indeed transported to Illyria, for the opening night of Shakespeare's comedy Twelfth Night on Wednesday.

From Orsino's famous first lines, "If music be the food of love", the LADS cast held us spellbound.

This was the Bard told straight, if straight is the right word for a play that deals in gender confusions and cross-dressing.

The director, Phil Franklin, solved one of the text's problems, the need for Viola and Sebastian to be identical twins, though of different gender, by casting two women for the roles.

The setting was firmly Elizabethan, with costumes from the Royal Shakes-peare Company.

This production, then, probably gave a clearer glimpse of how the play would have first appeared than many contemporary presentations.

I heard a former teacher say that any school party would have gained much from attending, because it was "all there".

The whole cast and crew deserve praise, but special plaudits must go to Mark Llewellin as foppish fool Sir Andrew Aguecheek, and to David Stone as the censorious but wronged steward, Malvolio.

Other plaudits must to go Melissa Morris as Sebas-tian, Rachel Williams as Viola and Barry Durkin, who played Sir Toby Belch.

The play's last night is tomorrow (Saturday) and tickets are available from Ledbury Books and Maps, High Street.

GARY BILLS-GEDDES