Why bring Shakespeare to Dubai? Because the audiences are so engaged with the show that it makes performing any play here a profoundly enjoyable experience. This young audience has got some of Shakespeare's jokes that even the Brits missed (I had to hold on for several seconds before I could continue after Maria's line "Marry sir, I have not you by the hand" got a massive laugh).

This afternoon's performances was sheer joy from beginning to end - it's up there with the best two hours I've ever spent on a stage. Mind you, I am partnered with the incomparable Morgan Philpott as Sir Toby: a dream partner to have by your side.

This man Shakespeare is a total wonder. Who is writing a play today that is going to be enjoyed so enormously by actors and audiences alike in four hundred year's time...?

This doesn't happen very often: you pick the phone and you are asked if you'd like to bring a new production of a play of your choice by Shakespeare to Abu Dhabi, Dubai and Al Ain followed by five days in Damascus. You find yourself saying "er, yes" and six weeks later you're in rehearsals with a brand new director rehearsing Shakespeare's great comedy with a fantastic group of actors.

The show opened last week in Birmingham and ran for four tremendously fun performances and two days later we were in Abu Dhabi as guests of the Abu Dhabi Festival.

We performed our first two shows today which went wonderfully well and tomorrow we head to Dubai.

We are being looked after marvellously by the festival organisers and the media seem very excited by the production. So we're looking forward to the week ahead.

Er, yes. I'm glad I picked up the phone.

So disappointed with JERUSALEM last night. And nothing feels worse than disappointment with a celebrated play/production.

Reading THE TUDOR AGE by Jasper Ridley for TWELFTH NIGHT, an excellent book which has some fascinating information about the period. Three facts struck me as suprisingly bizarre:

It's not only Gordon Brown who likes to create unnecessary laws. Four statutes passed by Parliament between 1510 and 1533 dictated that no one except the royal family was to dress in cloth-of-gold or purple, on pain of a fine of £20 (£10,000 in modern money). No one under the rank of a knight or lord's son could wear a silk shirt, unless he owned land worth £20 a year in rents; and if the land was worth less than £5 a year, he could not wear any garment that was scarlet or violet in colour.

Meanwhile 7000 soldiers, who were sent to Spain to help King Ferdinand, mutineed because there was no beer, and came home. So when the campaign against Scotland was being planned in 1542, it was organised around the supply of beer for the troops - and delayed by nine days while the generals waited for the beer to arrive. And even when it did, the shortage of beer forced to Duke of Norfolk to retreat after it ran out.

I also didn't know the notion of "a whipping boy" was invented to solve the problem of discipling Edward VI when he became King at the age of nine. It was decided to punish another boy, whom the King liked very much, whenever the King did something wrong. So his best friend Barnaby Fitzpatrick was whipped to deter the King from being naughty. (Barnaby was made a knight for his pains)

Must get that last fact into our next tour of THE TERRIBLE TUDORS. I think Tim Speyer would make an excellent Barnaby...

A review for Tim Speyer in the Independent:

"The lion is a little, bald, bewildered chap"

Not many reviews have made this reader smile as much!

Daniel Evans pulled off a magnificent coup last night with the best crowd scene I've ever seen, using a marvellous group of community actors to portray the townsfolk in AN ENEMY OF THE PEOPLE. Ibsen's play is quite extraordinary, with Tony Sher in fine form as Dr Stockmann. The refurbished theatre looks and feels fabulous!

(plus the most wonderful treat of driving through the snowy caps of the Peak District from Manchester to Sheffield - one of the most magical half hours of my life)

It's often one of the forgotten aspects of theatre life - but thank goodness for good understudies. Both GEORGE and HORRIBLE SCIENCE have relied on their understudies in the last fortnight - and thank goodness we took the time to find the two brilliant actors who have stepped into the breach of their respective shows.

Rik Warren had just four minutes to step into a lead role in HORRIBLE SCIENCE in the second week of the tour - and was a marvel. He has been in the show since then and done an amazing job - no-one would know he hadn't rehearsed for the role. A perfect performance.

Jason O'Brien meanwhile has been amazing audiences (and his employers) with a stunning performance as George and then Dad in GEORGE'S MARVELLOUS MEDICINE. From Giant Chicken to leading role in one svelt step!

Rik and Jason - you have our undying admiration and appreciation!

Tim has done about 57 shows for the BSC over the years - FANTASTIC MR FOX, THE BFG, GEORGE'S MARVELLOUS MEDICINE, SHE STOOPS TO CONQUER, COLOMBE, TOM'S MIDNIGHT GARDEN, HORRIBLE HISTORIES, THE WITCHES, BRIDGES AND HARMONIES, JAMES AND THE GIANT PEACH - so how wonderful it was to see him on stage at The Rose being marvellous in The Dream - and how excited we are at the prospect of seeing him in 39 STEPS in the West End, in a part that could have been written for him!

However, under EU law, Tim's previous employment with us means he has to pay the BSC 37% of his income for the next 8 years.

Thanks Tim!

What a treat we had last night! It was fabulous to see The Rose Theatre packed to the rafters and this theatre works best when it's full. This is the best Dream I've seen, with Oliver Chris as as superb Bottom, William Chubb playing a wholly convincing Egeus doubling as a well disguised Starveling, a great Peter Quince by James Laurenson, the lovely Tam Williams as a gorgeous Lysander, the indomitable Tim Speyer as Snug and the incomparible Judi Dench as Titania.

I've been in the show twice myself but I heard lines last night I've never 'heard' before. I've not seen Shakespeare at The Rose but this is clearly its primary purpose as a building - the set by Elizabeth Bury used the fabric of the building with simplicity and beauty and it worked wonders. It's a fun, clear, poetic, magical production.

This show was an event - just as all theatre should be. How lucky we were to see it!