Four Get Lost in the Woods - A Midsummer Night's Dream
- Jun 25
- 2 min read
A Midsummer Night's Dream by William Shakespeare, edited by Robin Belfield at The Other Place, Stratford-upon-Avon until 30 August.
Review by Heidi Barber.
First published in 1600, this popular Shakespearean play is one of his most entertaining and imaginative comedies. It has inspired numerous film versions including a 1935 film with James Cagney as the well-known and aptly named character, Bottom.
For those who have not seen the show before, in A Midsummer Night's Dream, four young lovers escape into a forest inhabited by fairies and a troupe of amateur actors. A whirlwind of mistaken identities, romance, and comic chaos create a magical story.
In this co-production with the Unicorn theatre (the UK’s leading children’s theatre), we open to a stark, bleak set with the only props visible being two tyres hanging high above the stage. I was initially intrigued as to how this could develop into different settings including a magical forest, but the fast-paced action and creative captioning throughout the show quickly dissipated any reservations that I might have had.
Hermia (Scout Worsley) is distraught when her father Egeus (Emmy Stonelake) tries to insist that she marries Demetrius (Shahin Rezvani) but she refuses as she’s in love with Lysander (Kaireece Denton). Determined to disobey her father, Hermia plans to escape and confides in her friend Helena (Boni Adeliyi). The young lovers flee Athens for the forest nearby.
Meanwhile in the forest, a group of amateur actors/mechanicals are busy preparing a play for the Duke of Athen’s wedding. At the same time, the fairy king Oberon, commandingly played by Chris Jared, and his queen Titania (Amelia Donkor), are involved in a dispute that leads to magical mischief. The fairy Puck, (Joséphine-Fransilja Brookman) instructed by Oberon, causes much confusion by using a magical flower in order to make people fall in love with the first person they see.
In this shortened 80 minute production of the play, director Rachel Bagshaw has successfully retained all of the key elements of the play whilst also enhancing the comedic elements. There was a particularly amusing, unrehearsed moment when Egeus’s moustache fell off and this certainly added to the comedic atmosphere within the audience.
The lack of overlap between characters enabled the cast of eight actors to double up on most roles with convincing performances all round. The actors ran with the brief and shone. Emmy Stonelake as Bottom was a particular highlight. Not just for her comedy and Welsh accent but also, her timing was ‘spot on’.
The production runs until 30th August and I wholly recommend this refreshing, new take on this magical play.
For further details and to book tichets: https://www.rsc.org.uk/a-midsummer-nights-dream
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