A MIDSUMMER NIGHT'S DREAM Touring till 3rd September

Nottingham

A MIDSUMMER NIGHT’S DREAM: Shakespeare, Touring
British Shakespeare Company: www.britishshakespearecompany.co.uk
Runs: 2h 30m: one interval: tours till 3rd Sept
Review: Alan Geary: 13 July 2006

A success all round

It achieves that remarkable juxtaposition of magic and poetry, farce and knock-about which makes the play so well-loved.
It was a bit of an irony, in fact a lot of an irony, that on a perfect summer’s evening the one Shakespeare play almost certainly written for open-air performance had to be watched inside the Nottingham Playhouse. Luckier audiences have already seen it outdoors in Edinburgh and Norway; and it’s about to move on to Leeds and London.

On a confined stage the upstairs and downstairs set looked a trifle cramped but this was the only thing about the production that was. In nearly every other respect it had Robert J Williamson’s showmanship stamped all over it. All right, we didn’t get a semi-gratuitous but welcome falcon as in previous years, but we got a delightful sheep-dog called Jodie, playing Dog - again semi-gratuitous but welcome.

And hers wasn’t the only good performance: it was an unusually strong cast. Wayne Sleep, as Puck, the role he played four years ago at the Castle, was outstanding. Diminutive and boyish, he packed far more into the part than he did last time; his comic timing and sensitive rapport with the audience were admirable.

As Helena, Maxine Gregory was hectically funny as she gathered her skirts about her in exasperation - almost a gimmick these days, the whole thing was in Elizabethan costume - and engaged the sympathy of the audience.

It wasn’t all laughs. It started quite darkly with Theseus [David Davies, a fine Australian actor] and Hippolyta [Mina Anwar]. Davies and Anwar, as is customary, doubled as Oberon and Titania, which in this production were more important roles.

Most of the best comedy came when the confusion between the four lovers reached its climax and during the scenes with Bottom [Robert Williamson] and the other ‘rude mechanicals’.

This production achieved that remarkable juxtaposition of dreamy magic, poetry and comedy - knock-about and farce - which makes this play so well-loved.

Cast
Theseus/Oberon: David Davies
Hippolyta/Titania: Mina Anwar
Philostrate: Luciano Dodero
Egeus/Francis Flute: John Ioannou
Hermia: Liana Weafer
Demetrius: Sean B Brosnan
Lysander: Matt Hebden
Helena: Maxine Gregory
Peter Quince: Michael Gabe
Nick Bottom: Robert J Williamson
Tom Snout: Christopher Robert
Starveling: Liam Gerrard
Snug: Robert Crumpton
Robin Goodfellow: Wayne Sleep
Peaseblossom: Natasha Kemball

Director: Robert J Williamson
Designer: Robert J Williamson/Nancy Surman
Original Music: Elisa Harris
Costume Design: Mia Flodquist
Magical Advisor: Liam Gerrard

2006-07-24 19:33:37