A Midsummer Night’s Dream – Merely Theatre

Shakespeare in 90 minutes with a cast of just four women and one man, this was risky. They had minimal costume/props to indicate changes of character, and the two Athenian lover-boys, Demetrius and Lysander, were both played (even when fighting each other) by the resourceful Zena Carswell (who also played Snout/the Wall). It could have gone so very wrong! The fast delivery, with almost no pauses to digest the poetry, was exhausting but the diction was perfect. The ensemble, the stagecraft and the comedic business were splendid. Robert Myles, as Theseus/Oberon/Bottom excelled. His death(s) of Pyramus made a magnificent climax.

Devonshire Park Theatre, Eastbourne, 17 March 2016

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