IF you go down to the woods today you really are in for a big surprise. They’ve “planted” 17 trees on stage in the Quarry Theatre at West Yorkshire Playhouse to stand in for the Forest of Arden in Shakespeare’s sunny, funny romantic comedy.

The trees – from a sustainable source in South Wales – have been fixed to the stage in Ruari Murchison’s beautiful-looking design.

Much tree-hugging ensues as Rosalind (Vanessa Kirby) and Celia (Alice Haig) flee the court in disguise and find romance in the woods. Of course, this being Shakespeare there’s rather more to it than that .

Director Ian Brown names As You Like It as one of his favourite plays and his enthusiasm carries over into the production. This is a clear, clean reading of the play without unnecessary frills or gimmicks – trees apart.

Vanessa Kirby is someone who can speak Shakespeare’s lines and make them sound natural as the gender-bending Rosalind. She and Nathan Wright’s sturdy Orlando strike sparks as their romance blossoms.

Alice Haig makes a delightfully lively Celia, while Bruce MacKinnon does the impossible by making Shakespeare’s comedy funny for today’s audiences. His Touchstone, all mad hair and goofy expression, is sheer joy.

So too is Matthew Flynn’s melancholy Jaques – the one who does the All The World’s A Stage speech – although joy isn’t an emotion you readily associate with this miserable character.

■ Until October 16. Tickets 0113-213-7700 and online at wyp.org.uk