A MIDSUMMER NIGHT'S DREAM. To 17 June.

Colchester

A MDSUMMER NIGHT’S DREAM
by William Shakespeare

Mercury Theatre To 17 June 2006

Mon-Sat 7.30pm Mat 8 June 2pm 15, 17 June 2.30pm
Audio-described 15 June 2.30pm
BSL Signed 17 June 2.30pm
Post-show discussion: 7 June
Runs 2hr 20min

TICKETS: 01206 573948
www.mercurytheatre.co.uk
Review: Timothy Ramsden 12 June

Mixed quality, with a strong Titania and Helena, and some of the usual fun with ‘Pyramus and Thisbe’.
Substituting for the Mercury’s planned Gilgamesh, this production wasn’t intended when the current acting ensemble was created. And Nikolai Foster (responsible for Colchester’s fine Of Mice and Men last November) is a visiting director less familiar with the company’s flexible acting qualities. Possibly this makes for a fitful impact; the good qualities don’t, somehow, cohere.

Peter Dineen and Christine Absalom are mature monarchs, both in Athens and in fairy woodland. His Theseus is a grizzled fighter in relaxed mode; the poetry of Theseus’ lunatic, lover and poet speech seems unlikely from this rough-hewn character. And Oberon seems passionless, wanting Titania’s changeling boy merely as a pleasant addition to life. Absalom’s fairy queen, clothed like Elizabeth I in muted colours, shows a real wish for harmony with her husband, but is determined not to be trodden on. At the start her Hippolyta stands by Hermia while the men group away from them.

There’s a pleasant quality to the Mechanicals, Victor Gardener’s Peter Quince being restrained yet suddenly furious when anyone lapses below his own efficiency. He has to pursue Nick Bottom offstage (their voices are heard behind a wall) to persuade the ruffled weaver back into the play project. Ignatius Anthony gives his temperamental amateur an impulsiveness which makes apt references to others regarding him as an ass. His prosthetic change under Puck’s spell seems to reveal the asinine nature of Bottom’s chiselled features.

As so often, the lovers and fairies are less successful. Justin Grattan’s an efficient Puck though, like so many, tempted into over-pointing the briefer verse lines. And his invisibility eye-piece, like a biker bandit-mask, is clumsy. But he makes a nice point about the long journey for the magic flower, running off speedily then collapsing on return. The lovers sometimes lose clarity and seem ill-assorted, though Rosalind Philips explores Helena’s emotional troubles well.

Designer Sara Perks’ wall lifts then lowers to admit the chaos of night then re-establish order, while the multiple lanterns over the woodland create a starry firmament extending the interior scene’s single light. This production’s lovely to look at, sometimes delightful to listen to.

Titania/Hippolyta: Christine Absalom
Oberon/Theseus: Peter Dineen
Puck/Philostrate: Justin Grattan
Hermia: Louise Collins
Helena: Rosalind Philips
Lysander: Martin Parr
Demetrius: Colm Gormley
Peter Quince: Victor Gardener
Nick Bottom: Ignatius Anthony
Snout: Neil D’Souza
Snug: Tim Freeman
Egeus/Starveling: Robert Calvert
Flute: Andrew Fallaize

Director: Nikolai Foster
Designer: Sara Perks
Lighting: Tony Simpson
Composer: Ansuman Biswas

2006-06-15 11:42:30