FIRST night lighting problems that caused a 45-minute starting time delay hardly set the right mood for any revels that might be in the offing.

Yes, a light bulb. My kingdom for a light bulb… Not particularly poetic to be sure, but there again, neither was this over-clever and at times opaque script.

For unlike the subject of their muse, some of this material by Britain’s greatest wits and raconteurs really doesn’t travel at all. Take the master class opener, for example, which informed us just how many of Shakespeare’s sayings are present in everyday speech.

Now, I fully accept that in this Shakespeare 400 year we’re all suffering from a bit of Bard fatigue, but for heaven’s sake, how old hat is this? Such ‘did you know’ stuff can now be found on such common or garden trinkets as coffee mugs and children’s pencil cases.

There then followed a series of undoubtedly slick routines performed with all the showbiz glitz and slickness you would expect, yet signally lacking in any warmth or reverence for the greatest writer in the English language.

The crucial flaw in much of this post-war humour is its unrelenting self-consciousness and smug satisfaction. The subject almost becomes incidental.

The Monty Python anagrams sketch was a perfect example, lost in its own fog of sixth form humour and Footlights generation tomfoolery.

But the single greatest mistake in this comedy of errors is the fact that there is absolutely no indication as to which each piece refers. Occasionally, we were given a clue when a central character might be mentioned, but if not, even those of us with a vaguely working knowledge of the top man were stranded on a tempest-battered island of confusion.

There needed to be some explanation… we yearned for a master of ceremonies to guide us through the morass of verbiage.

And I found it impossible, through the prism of this underwhelming display, not to draw comparisons with our own county’s recent contributions to the Shakespeare legacy, namely those by Worcester Rep and Bromsgrove’s Madcap Theatre, two companies that most certainly can give this group of travailing players a run for their money.

The Shakespeare Revue runs until Saturday (September 3).