A MIDSUMMER NIGHT'S DREAM. To 30 August.

Tour

A MIDSUMMER NIGHT'S DREAM
by William Shakespeare

Chapterhouse Theatre Company Tour to 30 August 2004
Runs 2hr 30 min One interval (raffle held during interval for wine)
Review Hazel Brown 28 August at Exbury Gardens in New Forest, Hampshire

Little above a good school production, though somewhat redeemed by its four feisty lovers.Setting this comedy in the English countryside in the 1920's makes good sense for the humans, but leaves the fairies struggling for an identity. The two pairs of lovers, Hermia, Lysander, Helena and Demetrius, fit in easily as young flappers and their beaux in Chapterhouse's 1920s setting for Shakespeare's comedy. The girls, especially Jennifer Flockhart as a feisty Hermia, and the lovelorn Helena, Antonina Lewis, have obviously been friends since boarding school, and the boys, Sean de Vrind as Demetius and Toby Manley as Lysander are regulars at tennis parties in their white flannels, using tennis rackets as weapons instead of swords. The interplay between these four is a delight both on the page and as performed by this quartet of young actors.

However, Theseus is just an upper class golfing twit and Hippolyta a disdainful beauty wielding her lengthy cigarette holder like a weapon, and none too enamoured of her soon-to-be bridegroom. Casting Egeus as a dyspeptic vicar, against whom Hermia rebels in stance and deed from the very first, is a masterstroke. Bottom, Andrew Hodges, is a likeable village buffoon, whose transformation into a donkey is delightfully presaged in the rehearsal scene, when he starts to bray even before Puck leads him off into the brake. Peter Quince is a bully of a sub-lieutenant, trying to chivvy his cast of village tradesmen into order, complete with megaphone, director's chair and notebook, but his cast are incredibly dim witted rather than comic, which makes their scenes drag.

The fairies are even more problematical. As Oberon, Alex Scott Fairley, has a masterly stage presence, in sharp contrast to his performance as Theseus, but his relationship with Puck verges on sexual innuendo in the performance given by Mary Betts. Titania, though blonde and very beautiful, is wooden, her arm movements mechanical and inexpressive and her verse speaking expressionless, at best. The rest of the fairies are standard gossamer fare, but do sing sweetly.

Whether it was because it was towards the end of the run I am not sure, but unnecessary modernisms had crept in: Budge up a bit, says Bottom as he wedges himself onto a bench between the lovers at the end of play within a play. Such interjections happen often in the mechanicals' scenes, unnecessarily as these scenes are funny enough without them.

Snug/Cobweb: Helen Barford
Philostrate/Puck: Mary Betts
Peter Quince: Mark Burman
Demetrius: Sean de Vrind
Oberon/Theseus: Alex Scott Fairley
Hermia: Jennifer Flockhart
First Fairy/Moth: Marie-Claire Herron
Bottom: Andrew Hodges
Titania/Hippolyta: Helen Kennedy
Helena: Antonina Lewis
Lysander: Toby Manley
Snout/Mustardseed: Rebecca Naylor
Flute/Egeus: Richard Guy Roberts
Starveling/Peaseblossom: Sylvie-Anne Taylor

Director: Philip Stevens
Designers: Philip Stevens, Andy Dorritt, Rebecca Gadsby, Alec Fellows-Bennett and Richard Ison Composers/Music Directors: Richard Main, Bryan Nevin & Libby Reeves

2004-09-05 11:03:42