Last night was one of those rare, rare theatre experiences, a one-off event that in just five minutes cemented its place in memory and left the audience silently begging for more.

James McAvoy stepped onto the Trafalgar Studios stage and delivered a speech from Shakespeare's Julius Caesar. It was the speech Antony gives at the funeral of Julius Caesar and from the moment he opened his mouth he held the packed out theatre in the palm of his hand.

So impassioned was the performance, pregnant with raw emotion: grief, bitterness and tenderness that the meaning of Shakespeare's words could not have been clearer. So impassioned was the performance that it felt like the entire play had unfolded in front of you, in just a few minutes. Just recalling it brings a flood of emotion.

When Antony requests that the citizens make a ring around the corpse of Caesar, McAvoy dragged some unsuspecting audience members from their front row seats to form a ring, never missing a beat the whole time.