A Midsummer Night’s Dream Archives

A Midsummer Night’s Dream – Shakespeare’s Globe

30Nov

By Dave SmithNo Comments

London

A Midsummer Night’s Dream – Shakespeare’s Globe

You don’t necessarily expect a take on a A Midsummer Night’s Dream to have Pete Quince’s troupe cutting cocaine with credit cards but that’s far from the biggest change to this adaptation. Playing here now as more tragedy than comedy, Headlong adapted A Midsummer Night's Dream for its debut in the candlelight Wanamaker. Billed as a darker, more tragic version, there are still some laughs kept, perhaps some of them now more nervous laughs. There’s an undercurrent of sex and violence running throughout, sometimes uncomfortably combined. The lovers’ fallings-out in the woods, even when driven by Puck’s interference, move far away from the chaotic mischief and towards barely disguised emotional and physical abuse, playing with a hard edge to them. Sergo Vares’ Puck carries an air of male...

A Midsummer Night’s Dream – Golden Goose Theatre

29Sep

By Dave SmithNo Comments

London

A Midsummer Night’s Dream – Golden Goose Theatre

For the Lambeth Fringe, The New Rep Theatre tears through Richard Pepper’s adaptation of Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream in just 90 minutes. Focusing on the four lovers as they get twisted up by the fairies in the forest, while also bringing in the mechanicals, the actors in a play within a play - rehearsing in the forest and caught up in the fairies playing around. There’s a lot of fourth wall breaking, asides to the audience and some very modern moments, New Rep have certainly gone all out for the comedy to - mostly - success but a few moments land awkwardly and feel tacked on, pulling us out of the world rather than deeper into it. A sharper edit or simply more restraint would have helped here. Jack Gogarty’s Bottom works well but has a naive earnestness despite his se...

Sh!t-faced Shakespeare: A Midsummer Night’s Dream – Underbelly, McEwan Hall

18Aug

By Greg HolsteadNo Comments

Scotland

Sh!t-faced Shakespeare: A Midsummer Night’s Dream – Underbelly, McEwan Hall

One actor drunk, the rest soberly soldiering on through Shakespeare. It’s a crowd-pleasing premise, and the chaos is real. But if you don’t know your Midsummer Night’s Dream inside out, a lot of the humour sails past. Funny? Yes, at times. Insightful? Not so much. On paper, this sounds like a perfect Fringe mash-up: take a cast of classically trained Shakespearean actors, lace one of them with enough booze to make Falstaff blush, then watch the Bard’s poetry get sideswiped by slurred asides, physical stumbles, and improvised derailments. In theory, it’s both a homage to the rough and ready theatrical tradition and a sharp parody of Shakespearean reverence. The night I saw it, the chosen drunk was Lysander, who gradually morphed into “the crazy little Greek kid who gap-yeared in R...

A Midsummer Night’s Dream – Venue 45 at theSpace

15Aug

By Marcelina KruczyńskaNo Comments

Scotland

A Midsummer Night’s Dream – Venue 45 at theSpace

Who would have thought that the modern TV show Love Island and Midsummer Night’s Dream would have anything in common. One’s a Shakespearian play that despite being a comedy still has Shakespear’s characteristically difficult lines which one could argue often deters modern audiences. While the other is a modern reality TV dating show, which features day to day lingo which makes it relatable. Naturally, one would never pair these two sources of entertainment together and yet New Stagers did just that. Not only did New Stagers connect the dots between these two vastly different means of entertainment but they also managed to mesh them together in their unique adaptation of A Midsummer Night’s Dream, the result? An overwhelmingly positive response from the audience packed theatre. The p...

A Midsummer Night’s Dream – Bridge Theatre

6Jun

By Zandra OdetundeNo Comments

London

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...

11Dec

By Samantha CollettNo Comments

London

A Midsummer Night’s Dream – Barbican

In the last four hundred-odd years, since Shakespeare first wrote ‘A Midsummer Night’s Dream’, there have been a myriad of incarnations and reincarnations. Every age injects the words with meaning pertinent to the day. Cue the Royal Shakespeare Company’s director Eleanor Rhode, who brings to the stage possibly the deepest, funniest, most immersive, inventive, creative and multi-layered version of the play, yet. The story is in brief: a comedy chemical romance. Hermia is refusing to marry Demetrius because she is in love with Lysander. If she disobeys her father’s wishes, she will either be put to death or live as a single woman in a nunnery for the rest of her life. Hermia chooses option C - to run away with Lysander so they can escape the rule of Athenian law and be together. Ala...

14Oct

By Mark HumphreysNo Comments

Yorkshire & Humber

A Midsummer Night’s Dream – Leeds Grand

The journey to Leeds across the M62 saw far from midsummer weather – gusting winds, driving rain, whirling leaves – but once inside the Grand Theatre and Opera House a much warmer welcome awaited. Opera North’s revival of Martin Duncan’s production is directed this time by Matthew Eberhardt. Johan Engels’ set is minimalist but very effective – translucent Perspex pillars signify the trees of the forest, whilst the canopy (or are they dream bubbles?) float high above the stage. These pillars then take the colour of Bruno Poet’s subtle lighting design, which contrasts beautifully with the 1960s-flower-power-style outfits of the lovers, Helena and Demitrius, Hermia and Lysander. And setting this production in the swinging sixties, when the work was first performed, with its ...

A Midsummer Night’s Dream – Stafford Gatehouse

4Jul

By Paul DownhamNo Comments

West Midlands

A Midsummer Night’s Dream – Stafford Gatehouse

A magical Midsummer’s Night in Stafford It is the small details that can make a theatre trip memorable. As I took my seat at Stafford Gatehouse Theatre on Sunday 2nd July before seeing the summer Shakespeare production of 2023 (A Midsummer Night’s Dream), I could hear the sound of bird song emanating through the auditorium. Coupled with a view of the Greek taverna set on full display, I was transported to another place before any of the actors appeared. Usually this classic play opens with the Athenians conversing; however director Sean Turner opted to have Puck (a male fairy) start the proceedings, which I thought worked well because Puck’s role is to act as a commentator on the other character’s foibles. It is not just the actors who are commented on here thoug...

A Midsummer Night’s Dream – The Charterhouse

5Jun

By Samantha CollettNo Comments

London

A Midsummer Night’s Dream – The Charterhouse

Having watched hundreds of productions, it’s hard to surprise me. But stepping into Charterhouse gardens, a small patch of green in the shadow of the Barbican towers, I found myself confused by the set up. In the corner, under some ancient trees, was a primitive looking stage reminiscent of a village fete. In front of said stage were a collection of people joyously picnicking on camping chairs and mats. The atmosphere was peaceful, happy, relaxed and easy. It was hard to believe you were in central London amidst this little gathering chowing down on wine and home-made sandwiches. It was also hard to believe the production I was about to see was to be performed by The Handlebards - cycling actors who tour across the world presenting Shakespeare. It was at that point I knew I was in fo...

27May

By Aditi DalalNo Comments

London

A Midsummer Night’s Dream – Shakespeare’s Globe

Elle While presents a vibrant, new production of the widely performed, if not widely loved play. With a few contemporary references thrown in and some of the original text being reinterpreted for modern times, the show feels like a fresh chaotic riot. It is amazing how many versions of the same play can be created! The bright costumes by takis keep the Elizabethan spirit alive and the specific colours for each character help even novices keep track of the changing affections between the lovers. The boisterousness of the costumes is carried through in the movement direction by Annie-Lunnette Deakin-Foster. The cast seems to be in a two and half hour long party, with everyone in a highly intoxicated but slickly controlled state, springing off the magnanimous stage. But all is not brigh...