A MIDSUMMER NIGHT'S DREAM. To 8 March.
Cardiff.
A MIDSUMMER NIGHT’S DREAM
by William Shakespeare.
New Theatre Cardiff 4-8 March 2008.
Tue-Sat 7.30pm Mat Thu & Sat 2.30pm.
Captioned 7 March.
Runs 2hr 40min One interval.
TICKETS: 029 2087 8889.
www.newtheatrecardiff.co.uk
Review: Timothy Ramsden 1 March at Clwyd Theatr Cymru (Anthony Hopkins Theatre).
It would be lunatic not to love this poetry.
In Tim Baker’s production of the Dream, going south from its birthplace in Mold for a week in Cardiff, the white-painted portico of Duke Theseus’ Athenian court (suitably Greek music sounding at the start) shows through its portals the green of the nearby wood. Then night, in this quarrel-filled comedy, falls with a thousand or more leaves, among which, like camouflaged troops, fairy creatures stir.
Baker sets up tension from the start, where Bradley Freeguard’s Theseus talks confidently about his switch from warrior to husband, never noticing his conquered wife-to-be, Hippolyta, doesn’t appreciate this easy change to marriage mode. As Athenian citizen Egeus seeks to force his daughter Hermia unwillingly into marriage, Siwan Morris’s Hippolyta registers her shock through a gradual arching of the mouth; the new queen-to-be seems to be wondering what sort of place she’s got herself into.
So, intriguingly, the character with least to say in the scene establishes the disturbance which sees the daytime-world reoccur as a fairy-filled forest where another child’s future is art stake. And fittingly, more querulous people, plain tradesmen who imagine they are actors, find a place in that dream-world. Here, Julian Lewis Jones’ Flute is a tall, sunglasses-toting poser, whose beard is well on the way. It’s incredible Peter Quince, if he had an ounce of dramatic sense, would have cast him as Thisbe.
But Simon Armstrong’s mild-mannered Quince is as unsuitable for working with the imagination as anyone it’s possible to imagine. Elsewhere, imagination’s held in low esteem. Theseus’ famous equation of lunatic, lover and poet echoes Egeus’ early complaint (Steven Elliott scornfully points it up) that Lysander has seduced Hermia with “rhymes”.
There’s the usual doubling of Athenian and Fairy courts, except for Puck and Philostrate. This is practical (all Puck’s white makeup) but also reminds that Puck manoeuvres disorder into being while Philostrate seeks to discourage Theseus from unleashing the Mechanicals’ disordered ‘Pyramus and Thisbe’ on the wedding celebrations.
When ‘Pyramus’ happens, the Moon’s appurtenances cause a lot of comedy; fittingly, in a production that shows up the diurnal world’s dismissal of imagination as some sort of moonshine.
Theseus/Oberon: Bradley Freeguard.
Hippolyta/Titania: Siwan Morris.
Lysander: Dyfed Potter.
Demetrius: Alex Parry.
Hermia: Louise Collins.
Helena: Eleanor Howell.
Egeus/Robin Starveling: Steven Elliott.
Philostrate/Peaseblossom: Michael Geary.
Peter Quince: Simon Armstrong.
Nick Bottom: Phylip Harries.
Francis Flute: Julian Lewis Jones.
Tom Snout: Sion Pritchard.
Snug: Dyfrig Morris.
Puck: Simon Watts.
Cobweb: Daniel Lloyd.
Moth: Lucy Rivers.
Mustardseed: Sally Evans.
Director: Tim Baker.
Designer: Mark Bailey
Lighting: Nick Beadle.
Sound: Matthew Williams.
Composer/Musical Director: Dyfan Jones.
Choreographer: Rachel Catherall.
Dialect coach: Sally Hague.
Fight director: Kevin McCurdy.
2008-03-03 08:45:05