Terry Pratchett's novel brought to life on the stage

A cross-dressing Igor, a caffeine addict vampire and a possessed religious fantatic bring Terry Pratchett's trademark silliness to life in a satirical tale of gender bending during wartime.

Set in the famous Discworld, a group of Borogravian girls dress as men in order to sign up for the Tenth Foot regiment (known as the 'Ins and Outs') and join the war effort against neighbouring Slovenia.

As each of their disguises fails, they begin to realise that they might not be the only women on the front. Think Joan of Arc with an extra pair of socks down her breeches and you're half way there.

The show was technically minimalist, but this in no way detracted from the experience. In fact, the stripped-down style allowed the players more space to express themselves. The focus was instead on smaller sets of character specific props, which added an extra level of depth to each member of the regiment.

The performers were spot on in their rendition of beloved Discworld characters. They knew the type of humour that Pratchett conveys in his books and managed to translate that perfectly.

There was no downtime for any of the players. Whenever the main action was happening, the supportting cast would busy themselves in character and often added unexpected chuckles from the audience, such as Igor constantly 'playing' with his chemistry set.

The subtle, visual gags added an extra set of laughs that you can't get from reading the books, but also stayed in keeping with the spirit of the story. For someone who is new to the world of Terry Pratchett, it would have been difficult at the start to distinguish some of the supporting characters from one another, and the Ankh-Morpork scenes were difficult to hear (though that seemed to be down to acoustics more than anything else). 

The stars of the show had to be coffee-guzzling reformed vampire Maledict (Will Pritchard) and battle hardened Sergeant Jackrum (Nick Dunn), whose performances perfectly echoed the feel of the Discworld. Tip of the cap also goes to Sarah Roberts for her peformance as the fanatical Wazzer. One point had her having to continuosuly speak in sync with a recorded voice over, which was done brilliantly.

You can tell that this was a production made by fans of the series. Amy Davies has done a brilliant job of recreating the atmosphere and, most importantly, the humour.

Whether or not you're a fan of the Discworld, Monstrous Regiment brings the funny with a fantastic cast in a superb adaptation of the fantasy novel.