Wandering on to a large stage surrounded by boxes of props and neatly laid-out armour, Dik Downey recounts how he came to make the show – all while stripping down to a fetching pair of long johns and donning the armour to become Don Quixote. As he engagingly tells stories of getting props off eBay and how, at 63, this might be his last big show (so it’s got to be a good one), the framing is clear. This is a mad old dreamer off on the adventure of telling the story of a mad old dreamer off on adventures.

The centre of the stage is a circle covered in a light dusting of sand. It is a beautiful device: it reflects the dry and barren landscape that Don Quixote traverses, and creates a focus for the action. In this arena he is Don Quixote, off it he is Dik Downey, and as the show progresses he picks up more and more dirt from it, increasing the sense of decrepitude.

The puppets too are perfectly conceived. Using his armour as a base to attach them, they range from the comic Punch and Judy of the boy being beaten by his master, to the epic scene of Quixote on his steed Rocinante, and Sancho Panza on his donkey (three puppets, two hands) as they gallop in slow motion across the plain tilting at windmills.

Downey’s expertise in audience interaction, his setting up themes that will become ever more important (like the struggle to get to his feet in the armour), and the self-deprecating asides and complaints, all create a comforting sense that we are in the hands of an expert. Something that he is able to subvert to great effect later.

This production works on so many levels. The puppets and puppetry are wonderful, the story is a classic, the storytelling is engaging, and it is a very funny performance. It is a five star entertainment, but Downey’s embodiment of Don Quixote’s exploits takes it to another level. Raging against the dying of the light, Downey and Quixote are inspirational in showing how to keep on adventuring when we are no longer young.