» Review: A Midsummer Night’s Dream
I am a materialist when it comes to Shakespeare. I appreciate a solid production, first class acting and a light editing of the text. This had all three. But when it comes to costumes and scenery, I hate those productions dressed down so much they seem like extended drama classes. Material things, as Shakespeare’s Globe proved with this joyful and very funny re-imaging of Midsummer, can add layers and intrigue that breathe new life into one of the world’s best known English plays.
The setting was 1930s England; Puck (Bethan Walker) a cabaret star, Theseus and Hippolyta Edward VIII and Wallis Simpson, and Brideshead-style teddy bears were used for one of the magic spells.
The cast made good use of the beautiful setting, at times sprinting around and through the audience, sitting among the picnicking crowds and teasing them. At one point limelight-stealing Bottom (Will Mannering) ran amok with some stolen strawberries and threatened to throw himself off the crumbling stone wall.
The actors flirted, reviled, joked and jilted with gusto and glamour, exactly as you’d want them to, adding new physical comedy to the text and sparking off each other to the delight of a sell-out crowd. A perfect way to spend a summer evening.
St Nicholas Rest Garden, 21 May
5/5
Rachel Pegg
