A MIDSUMMER NIGHT'S DREAM. To 8 September.
London
A MIDSUMMER NIGHT'S DREAM
by William Shkespeare
Open Air Theatre, Regent's Park In rep to 8 September 2004
Mon-Sat 8pm Mat Thu & Sat 2.30pm
BSL Signed 10 July 8pm
Runs 2hr 50min One interval
TICKETS: 08700 601811
www.openairtheatre.org
Review: Timothy Ramsden 16 June
A fresh, inventive production finely performed.Ian Talbot's thoughtful yet refreshingly funny Regent's Park production is harmonious but not untroubled, with comic yet convincingly real tradesmen, a fairy world filled with human feelings and a quartet of lovers mercifully free of the squeaks and shrieks that usually distort their scenes. It's physically pacy and spoken with flexible elegance. Talbot steers audiences with a constituency of non-regular Shakespearegoers between the cerebral and the superficial.
Terence Wilton's mature Theseus remembers laughingly the kind of lovemaking Hermia and Lysander have got up to behind daddy's back. Nicholas Pound's Egeus (who's brought along the rule-book Theseus has evidently forgotten) doesn't share such tolerance until resistance becomes useless.
The distraught fairyland shares the underlying harmony, Titania's Fairy getting on well with Mark Hilton's Puck. The pair even work as a team to bring the lovers together. He's a Manchester lad, restless in body and slow in thinking, playful rather than malicious. And Keith Dunphy's Oberon overcomes his anger against Titania through watching the Athenian lovers' quarrel.
The youngsters are neatly distinguished, Ben Hocks' assured Demetrius against Jordan Frieda's Lysander, his striped-blazer elegance discomposed in the forest. Annette McLaughlin's Helena tries provocative poses on Demetrius, while Sophie Bould's vivid Hermia retains her Edwardian lady's dignity by keeping her beau at more than arm's length. It's fitting she's the one tormented in her sleep by the ragbag fairies.
Talbot keeps the lovers' big quarrel clear by focusing Helena's early complaints on the men; the women even recreate a joint old-school salute. When Hermia turns on her friend, the men talk of protecting Helena at the very moment they free Hermia to go for her. Confusion, more than malice, drives everyone.
The play tests friendship among the mechanicals too. Russ Abbot's excellent Bottom dominates the group; Christopher Godwin's red-faced Quince has to go on his knees to keep him in the cast of Pyramus and Thisbe' (Abbot's eyes slide sideways to check he's doing this), and suffers the humiliation of seeing his cast bypass him to ask Bottom's dramaturgical advice. Yet the confusions of their onstage conflicts prepare the way for ultimate nocturnal peace.
Theseus: Terence Wilton
Hippolyta: Ellen O'Grady
Lysander: Jordan Frieda
Demetrius: Ben Hicks
Hermia: Sophie Bould
Helena: Annette McLaughlin
Egeus: Nicholas Pound
Philostrate: Oliver Beamish
Quince: Christopher Godwin
Bottom: Russ Abbot
Flute: Matt Rawle
Snout: Gareth Jones
Snug: Leo Conville
Starveling: Raymond Bowers
Oberon: Keith Dunphy
Titania: Lauren Ward
Puck: Mark Hilton
1st Fairy: Leanne Rogers
Peaseblossom: Oliver Hume
Cobweb: Nick Bonner
Moth: Lucy Thatcher
Mustardseed: Richard Reynard
Phlox: Jenny Fitzpatrick
Director: Ian Talbot
Designer: Kit Surrey
Lighting: Jason Taylor
Sound: Gregory Clarke
Composer: Catherine Jayes
Movement: Gillian Gregory
Voice coach: Mel Churcher
Dialect coach: Charmian Hoare
Assistant director: Laura Baggaley
2004-06-17 02:25:33