This brave, bold and occasionally bonkers adaptation of Daphne Du Maurier's classic novel holds up a whole hallucinatory distorting Wall of Mirrors to the literary classic.

The famous opening line, "Last night I dreamt I went to Manderley again..." leads the audience into an ever dream- like, surreal world where Max du Winter's tainted and crumbling Cornish mansion becomes mixed in with the watery, rocky grave of his first wife, Rebecca.

The staging and Leslie Travers' set is extraordinary:it starts dramatically with Rebecca's drowned body floating down onto the stage to be followed by and hidden by a boat, which also becomes covered like a dark secret. Indoors and outdoors become one in this claustrophobic world where the young, naive and misguided Mrs du Winter is consumed by self- doubt and jealousy.

Director/ adapter Emma Rice of Kneehigh Theatre has drawn out and exaggerated comedic elements, one would imagine to bring light and shade to the brooding passion and malevolent mood of the piece. Occasionally I laughed at the ridiculous puppet dog, the phone- obsessed servant and bizarre references to Fred Astaire but in the first half particularly the comedy often felt like an annoying if short- lived interruption to the main plot.

The addition of the singing Cornish fishermen with their foreboding sea shanties worked really well. The ancient calling of the sea with all it's wild power effectively mirrored the free spirit and ghostly calling of Rebecca: both are ever present and cannot be tamed.

I was disappointed that the opening extracts of the book (and Hitchcock's film) capturing the carefree, innocent courtship of our nameless heroine and Max were completely dropped as this formed a vital part of the story's development and the characters' transition.

However, the play was particularly good as it built up to its dramatic conclusion. Imogen Sage really shone as her character switched from youthful, Innocent to an empowered and dominant women almost possessed by Rebecca's spirit. Tristan Sturrock as the charming yet melancholy and distracted Max was spot on.

Ultimately I enjoyed this highly inventive piece although the over- heavy comedy came close to capsizing a fresh and exciting new interpretation of one of our best loved books.