"If music be the food of love, play on.” The most famous opening lines to a play ever written are the inspiration for Filter’s production of Twelfth Night.

“We worked with sound designers and musicians from day one,” explains Ferdy Roberts, the company’s co-artistic director.

“They were with us in the rehearsal room creating the piece. Music is normally attached at the last minute or it is not directly linked with performance.”

It’s why many critics compare Filter’s production of the comedy to a rock gig.

The shipping forecast has found its way into the show. As have moments of rock God-like status for the cast of counts and dukes, servants and captains.

“When we were creating Malvolio’s role we imagined what it would be like putting a microphone to his head at one point in the play, what music would be in his head.

“We decided it would be Iggy Pop or The Rolling Stones at Wembley. And he can imagine himself being Mick Jagger or Ronnie Wood.

“By doing that it brilliantly released the ego in these characters – and that is what this play is about: people believing other people should love them because they are righteous.”

During early rehearsals, as the company responded to a 2006 commission from the Royal Shakespeare Company (RSC) for its Complete Works Festival, they had a drum kit, bass guitar, cello, keys and a double bass in the room.

The intention was initially to experiment with the play for a three-night run. But after that first series, the company felt it had unlocked something of the anarchy and energy of Shakespeare.

Sean Holmes, now artistic director of Lyric Hammersmith, joined the project to create and direct Twelfth Night.

“He said he felt we had got closer to the spirit of Shakespeare than he ever had working at the RSC.

“Perhaps that’s because those sound designers and technicians we work with are not theatre people and they come to projects in a fresh way.

“They don’t have any of the baggage we might have. They have not studied classical theatre or drama at college. They have a much freer way of approaching the plays.”

Roberts formed Filter in 2003 with two old friends – Ollie Dimsdale (an actor) and Tim Phillips (a composer, songwriter, and producer) – from Guildhall School of Music and Drama.

The actors and drama department never crossed over with the music department and the trio thought it was a wasted opportunity.

“All these great potential talents are walking around the same building and never get the chance to create and explore stuff together.”

Tom Haines and Ross Hughes joined the company to design the music and sound for Twelfth Night, which was made in only a week (due to finances) and has been edited and chopped down.

“It made us be bold. We had to cut the play and keep its spirit alive. So it is 90 minutes with no interval. All the lines in the play are Shakespeare’s apart from a couple of interventions.”

The language has not been modernised or updated.

“But it is spoken in a refreshing way. It is direct.

“Audiences, whether they are seven-year-old kids or 85-year-old grannies and grandpas, say, ‘Wow, that felt like I’d heard that for the first time.’”

To all those traditionalists who say the production could murder the Bard’s legacy, Roberts says the language is robust enough to handle whatever his company can throw at it.

“We are not being arrogant or cocky; we are not being clever for the sake of being clever. We wanted to explore its anarchy and energy.”

And still, adds Roberts, it is more traditional than you might think.

“In Shakespeare’s day the cast wore what people wore on the streets. We are not in doublet and hose but we are honouring the original spirit.

“Obviously we are using drum kits and synthesizers but in Shakespeare’s day they used music to move between scenes.

“He talked about the elements because they were actually right outside in the elements.

“He also talked directly to his audience, so we are more traditional than a lot of people think we might be.”