Sick of slumming it on the fringe I decided to take in the grandeur of the International Festival, just to see if the big boys work is any better than that on the fringe.

Much has been written in the press recently about director Calixto Bieto's shock tactics and radical reworking of Shakespeare, but we do not get this with his excellent production of Celestina . An unknown play in Britain it is held in the highest regard in Spain , up there with other great pieces of literature Don Juan and Don Quixote. Bieto has chosen to be more reserved than with previous productions opting to tell the story more than reinvent it.

Set in seedy-backstreets style bar complete with its own rumba band, the superb La Sinfonica Gava, we see Celestina (Kathryn Hunter) an old whore holding court with various working girls and low lives when she is approached by Calisto (Christopher Fox) for aid in pursuing the love of his life Melibea (Laura Rogers), which through her cunning, a bit of witchcraft and greed, she does. But this is a classic and in true classical tradition they do not live happily ever after, as one by one all the main protagonists meet with a sticky end.

This is undeniably a wonderful production full of Bieto's trademark sex, violence and a highly cinematic feel to the production. The real star of this though, is John Clifford's wonderful script, changing from common base language full of jokes and laughter to beautiful passages loaded with elegant and emotional language.

There are many highlights in what is a fine production, the most unexpected being Neil McKinven's fine stand up routine full of terrible jokes such as “Why do women wear Make-up and Perfume? Because they are ugly and smell!”

Don't believe everything you read about Bieto's productions. Yes, sometimes they do shock, challenge and take the audience places that they would prefer not to go but he is far more than that, he is one of the best directors of his generation.