One of the subplots in A Midsummer Night's Dream concerned a group of actors who were rehearsing the play Pyramus and Thisbe as an entertainment for the wedding of Theseus. and Hippolyta. In The Popular Mechanicals, now in the final leg of a revival by the South Australian Theatre Company, writers Keith Robinson and Tony Taylor have imagined how those actors might have occupied their time when offstage - rehearsing, arguing, singing, dancing, playing with puppets, clowning around - and how they coped when one of their number, Bottom the tailor, was turned into an ass by the mischievous fairy Puck.

Rory Walker, who plays the troupe's leader, Peter Quince, said he saw the original production, which was directed by Geoffrey Rush, when he was at school.

"I remember laughing a lot."

For this production, directed by Sarah Giles, some of the original script has been trimmed and new physical business added, as well as new tunes to the lyrics.

"We have a different musical director so there's different music."

The songs include one about the audience - "The monster in the dark" - and another with the constant, if ambivalent, refrain "Wouldn't you like to live in Tudor England," as it enumerates many of the period's dubious delights, from disease to torture to the persecution of suspected witches.

Lori Bell, who plays plays Tom Snout, the tailor, said the play appealed both to audiences with an interest and knowledge of Shakespeare and those who weren't so familiar with the Bard. She said high school audiences had come who hadn't studied A Midsummer Night's Dream and they had enjoyed the play for its comedy and high spirits.

When the Canberra season ends, Bell said she would stay on to perform in her other job as a stand-up comedian: she has gigs at Manuka's Polit Bar on November 9 and 11. While The Popular Mechanicals was her first play in Canberra, she said she had done stand-up in Canberra before and enjoyed it.

"I ended up at Mooseheads."

The Popular Mechanicals is on at the Playhouse, Canberra Theatre Centre, until Saturday, November 4. canberratheatrecentre.com.au or 6275 2700.