Audiences don’t come to the Fringe to see Shakespeare performed straight; the best adaptations mess about with the Bard and explore new angles. Get Thee to a Nursery hits the spot precisely. The young adult actors from Exi Attica get to reenact their childhood, playing a group of four-year-olds who’ve been charmed by the ghost of Shakespeare.

They waste no time setting the scene. The kids enter one by one to a sweet rendition of The Wheels on the Bus, their characters and relationships instantly defined on entry. A swift cut to chaos, and a punk rendition of the same song – the bus wheels have definitely come off. An ineffectual nanny tries to settle the kids with stories from Shakespeare, her book gets destroyed, and after nap-time the four-year-olds find they can only speak in Shakespearean verse.

Everything is done in the style of the Bard: the children’s games, their squabbles, and their friendship. This new script by A. Norcutt is superb. It is cleverly constructed with recognisable chunks from one play juxtaposed against lines from another. There is delight to be had in trying to recognise the scenes and lines (coming thick and fast from A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Macbeth, Hamlet and many more), but the real joy is in the performances of the young actors as they bounce off each other and bring the text to vibrant life.

That energy is particularly exemplified by Bethany Ford as the spirited and often trouble-making Ella, though it is almost unfair to pick out one actor in what is a great ensemble piece. Music is played onstage by Ruben McNiven as Dax, who is particularly effective when he is playing the toy keyboard early in the production. When he comes out with a guitar later, on the other hand, it seems out of character for a four-year-old.

The exuberance of the performers carries the play along, but they do need to be careful with asides – which gain a laugh from a supportive audience, but at the cost of dipping out of the Bardic language and breaking the magic spell they have worked so hard to cast.

It’s a boring take to say we need to make Shakespeare relevant to the youth of today, because every generation finds it and remakes it in their own way. Still, I haven’t seen anything that makes Shakespeare relevant to young people in as clever a way as this. This is superior youth theatre, with strong performances across the board, and a cleverly inventive script that makes the most of the cast’s talents.