A Midsummer Night’s Dream – Bridge Theatre

If A Midsummer Night’s Dream should leave you feeling as though you’ve wandered through a strange, enchanted world, unsure what was real and what was play, then this immersive production succeeds beautifully. Bold, funny, sometimes outrageous, but always intelligent, it brings Shakespeare’s classic comedy to life with an energy that is both thoroughly modern and deeply respectful of the text’s spirit.

Bunny Christie’s design is a triumph, a playful yet atmospheric space in which the audience moves freely as the world of the play shifts around them. The staging, with its moving platforms and layered set-pieces, constantly reshapes your perspective. I was fortunate to experience it from within the pits, which brought an exhilarating intimacy to the action. That said, if you’re on the shorter side, a seated ticket may offer a more consistent view – though the experience itself remains compelling from any angle.

The cast is uniformly strong. The lovers, the royals, the rude mechanicals, and especially the fairies, all of which performed astonishing aerial work, all commit fully to the heightened world of the play. The physicality of the fairies added an ethereal, almost otherworldly texture that elevated the production well beyond convention.

Emmanuel Akwafo’s Bottom deserves particular praise. His performance captured the character’s full comic potential while grounding him in an infectious humanity. His Bottom was not merely absurd; he was magnetic, drawing the audience into his world and making us complicit in the play’s joyful madness.

Equally outstanding was David Moorst as Puck. Puck is often a role played for lightness or mischief alone, but Moorst gave us a more layered, mercurial figure: playful, yes, but also unnerving, even dangerous at moments. His physical presence and vocal control were remarkable, and his connection with the audience was electric.

Director Nicholas Hytner orchestrates all of this with great assurance. The production is vibrant and inventive without feeling self-indulgent, it is unafraid to be contemporary, yet it never loses sight of the deeper questions of love, power, and transformation that animate Shakespeare’s text. The choice to thread in modern pop; from Beyoncé’s Love on Top to Dizzee Rascal’s Bonkers, was both unexpected and brilliantly judged, bridging the centuries with a knowing wink and drawing the audience deeper into the play’s playful, genre-bending world.

A final word for the stage team, whose deft management of the audience’s movement throughout the space was seamless and essential. Their unseen guidance made possible the fluid, immersive quality of the experience, and they deserve full credit for the success of the evening.

It seems fitting that I attended this production of A Midsummer Night’s Dream on a warm night in June. As I left, the world outside felt a little less certain, had we dreamed the whole thing? That lingering sense of enchantment is no accident. This production understands that A Midsummer Night’s Dream should not merely entertain; it should transport. And it does.

Now showing at Bridge Theatre, London until the 20th of August. Tickets available at: https://bridgetheatre.co.uk/

Reviewer: Zandra Odetunde

Reviewed: 5th June 2025

North West End UK Rating: