reviewer nicholas de jongh, the london telegraph
"...it takes jim dale as costard the clown to capture the plays lightness: grinning, empty minded, and fascinated by the sound of his words, he wanders in and out of the play's action. it is a conventional performance but a shining one.

reviewer ronald bryden    london
"the play has returned with a few cast changes. the most important being jim dale as  costard. he brings a needed element of course comedy to the pretty but slightly solemn medieval tapestry oliver made of the play. it is still more fun to look at than listen to, but dale, sniffing doggishly after sheila reid's  jacquenetta, imports the element of animal sex in which the flirtations of his betters' courtly wooings need rooting."