Reviews OWE & Fringe Published 9 April 2012

A Midsummer Night’s Dream

Middle Temple Hall ⋄ 6th - 14th April 2012

Antic Disposition’s fresh and lyrical production.

Julia Rank

Every good production of A Midsummer Night’s Dream transports the audience to another world. The beautiful courtyards behind Fleet Street, usually only frequented by lawyers, are almost as elusive as fairyland, and on a chilly Easter weekend, it was like walking on the set of a Dickens adaptation. The majestic Elizabethan Middle Temple Hall, which hosted the first performance of Twelfth Night in 1602 and survived the Great Fire of London and two World Wars, is one of the few buildings that Shakespeare almost definitely stepped foot in that’s still standing, and offers an atmosphere rarely matched by a conventional theatre. Under the intricately gabled roof with walls lined with coats of arms, portraits of assorted monarchs keep an eye on the proceedings. One hopes they don’t find Shakespeare’s magical mayhem too frivolous.

Ben Horslen and John Risebero’s luminous, lyrical and extremely well spoken production that relishes the luxurious poetry would be an ideal introduction to Shakespeare. It might not be a revolutionary interpretation, but its warmth and naturalness makes the language in this oft-performed favourite sing afresh. The traverse staging makes some moments difficult to see, but it also breaks down boundaries between the audience and actors. Designer and co-director Risebero uses a regal purple colour scheme and minimal props, most noticeably an illuminated crescent moon perched on top of a stepladder. The Hall is swathed in moonlight engineered by Rob Mills and James Burrows’s ethereal music and sound effects chime in at all the right moments.

In this world of double vision, the eager, soon-to-be-wed courtly couple Theseus and Hippolyta double up as the warring Oberon and Titania (as is often the case), and The Mechanicals duplicate as fairies, dressed in purple versions of their work clothes and wielding feather dusters. Clad in blue tulle, Helen Evans’s elegant and defiant Titania gives as good as she gets against Oberon (Tony Austin). Leaping out of The Mechanicals’ trunk, Dylan Kennedy’s athletic, Irish-accented Puck is an omnipresent bundle of energy unhampered by spatial limits, whose palpable delight in causing mischief prevents the magic from feeling too whimsical.

The quartet of runaway Athenian lovers all give solid performances and there’s an effective contrast between the two women. Ami Sayers’s pouty, skimpily-dressed Hermia is the kind of girl who ignores her friends as soon as a man comes along and Joanna Nuttall’s dowdy, bespectacled Helena, eating ice cream from the carton, is a Shakespearean Bridget Jones who desperately tries to pose against the ladders in an alluring manner. The men are less well developed, but Edward Lewis French’s ardent Lysander and Robert Welling’s caddish Demetrius both provide youthful appeal.

Dream‘s comedy is a gift for a director as it’s free from tedious characters making laboured jokes; the throwaway lines feels remarkably naturalistic and the ‘Pyramus and Thisbe’ extravaganza is a guaranteed crowd pleaser. As Bottom, a terrible actor, a nightmare of a backseat director and one of Shakespeare’s most delightful creations, the be-whiskered Nicholas White is thoroughly endearing and equally comfortable in donkey ears and buck teeth as he is as a romantic hero in a too-short tunic and a helmet of a colander and scrubbing brush. Highly enjoyable and detailed support comes from Christopher Rowland as the group’s wide-eyed, fluttering resident ingénue Flute (‘Thisbe’); Chris David Storer’s slow-witted Snug (‘Lion’) and Chris Waplington’s Snout (‘Wall’), hating every minute of being of being on stage and desperate for it to be over. James Pellow is also an earnest Peter Quince who can’t stop curtseying to the court and Chris Courtenay gives a neat double turn as Starveling (‘Moon’) and Hermia’s humourless father.

In this refreshingly positive reading of the play, the magical and human worlds, culminating in the final blessing, are so beautifully interwoven that it’s quite easy to believe that magic is there if you look for it. After returning to the real world, Antic Disposition’s generous sprinkling of magic lasts beyond midnight in a trail of fairy dust.

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Julia Rank

Julia is a Londoner who recently completed a MA in Victorian Studies at Birkbeck College. Resolutely living in the past until further notice, Julia finds enjoyment in exploring art galleries and museums, dabbling in foreign languages, rummaging in second hand bookshops, and cats.

A Midsummer Night’s Dream Show Info


Produced by Antic Disposition

Directed by Ben Horslen and John Risebero

Written by William Shakespeare

Cast includes Tony Austin, Chris Courtenay, Helen Evans, Edward Lewis French, Dylan Kennedy, Joanna Nuttall, James Pellow, Christopher Rowland, Ami Sayers, Chris David Storer, Chris Waplington, Robert Welling, Nicholas White

Link http://www.anticdisposition.co.uk/

Running Time 2hrs 30min (including interval)

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