OUTSIDE, objectors to the proposed redevelopment of the Stratford theatres (Hands Off Our Theatre) were protesting - in the most genteel way.

Inside, the capacity (?) audience were also having a hoot.

This was simply one of the best productions by the RSC for a season.

The audience were so gripped they forgot, in the main, to punctuate the performance with the usual fusillade of coughs.

It was a triumphant return to the RSC for Sinead Cusack who turned in a marvellous performance as Cleopatra, capricious and wildly passionate. Stuart Wilson who last performed with the company in 1975 gave a well-thought out Antony, all swaggering man to Stephen Campbell-Moore's callow, prim Caesar - also excellent. He was less successful in finding the nobility of Rome's leading soldier, he who "kissed away kingdoms" while his voice, thin and high, was at times unequal to the challenge.

Plaudits too to Clive Wood's Enobarbus, composer Paddy Cunneen and design-lighting which saw the steely backdrop of Rome transformed to sybaritic Egypt through warm reds and oranges.

On the evidence of this, the future of the Almeida Theatre, London, one of the finest in the country over the last 10 years, will be safe in the hands of departing director Michael Attenborough.

PW