You can see how it must have happened. They put all their effort into preparing the gorgeous new playhouse, with its eight-sided auditorium, twin-level galleries and exposed wood still pungent, then they clean forgot about putting on the Shakespeare for which the whole thing was designed.
The pre-show announcements range from the incompetent to the panicked, half the actors have gone awol and it is touch and go whether the performance will happen. They have to think on their feet. The head of security gets drafted in to play Bottom, the waiter who has just cleared my plates in the cafe volunteers as Hippolyta and somehow I end up playing the bongos (sorry, people).
