Midsummer Night’s Dream Archives

Midsummer Night’s Dream – Shakespeare North Playhouse

17Jul

By Jan MellorNo Comments

North West

Midsummer Night’s Dream – Shakespeare North Playhouse

I have seen the famous Shakesperean comedy “Midsummer Night’s Dream” numerous times, several of these in the wonderful Shakespeare North Playhouse in Prescot. Every time I have seen this play it has been delivered with a different view, a different perspective – in a different way. Although the story remains the same, the journey and the players take on various routes. I have also seen the amateur touring group the Handlebards do this very play, at this very theatre, before in 2023 but knew by seeing this innovative and unpredictable group, that the journey this evening would be unique and refreshing. And it was!! The cast consisted of four females, which in itself was a unique stance in theatre. The cast intermingled with the audience (which disappointingly was only around 60 peo...

A Midsummer Night’s Dream – Brockley Jack

Bear in the Air Productions have produced a fresh traditional retelling of one of Shakespeare's most famous plays without resorting to gimmicks. It has been adapted brilliantly by Heather Simpkin to be performed by a cast of only six. This of course required very rapid costume changes, and placed great demands on the cast as they shifted within seconds from one character to another. All this was accomplished with great professionalism. The setting was minimal in the Brockley Jack's limited theatre space, with only a rudimentary bower, a statue and a few pieces of platform to represent the leafy bank. But the space was excellently used by the director, Conor Cook, although the need for cast members to leave the playing area to change rapidly into other costumes made for...

Rubbish Midsummer Night’s Dream – Shakespeare North Playhouse

“The course of true love never did run smooth” goes the line and never has a stronger argument been made than tonight’s raucous take on one of the Bard’s most popular comedies. And never before have we been able to settle that age old debate – do camels live in the woods? In the sunny surroundings of the Sir Ken Dodd Performance Garden, and armed with a series of violently coloured wigs, water-pistols and wings that are most definitely not bedsheets, the Rubbish Shakespeare Theatre Company has brought its latest family-friendly production to the stage, channeling the sensibilities of pantomime, as our players mercilessly tease the audience throughout, whilst sprinting through the salient points of the well-loved tale. Just in case you weren’t paying attention during your English Lit ...