A Midsummer Night's Dream From Shakespeare's Globe (2016) -
As with 'Twelfth Night' at Shakespeare's Globe (2023) the acting was far too over the top in this production, but at least this story was better and I didn't feel the need to turn it off, as I very nearly did with the other.
It was all played too frantic and if the cast had been mic'd it might have relieved the need for so many of them to shout. It was like they'd been told to project their voices, but decided to just make their lines louder instead and I know that sounds daft, but filling the room with your voice isn't about being loud so much as being clear and concise, but with volume.
And I didn't think that all of their deliveries were even as good as when I was in an amateur version of the story myself. Some of the performers didn't seem to fit their parts at all in that respect.
I didn't get on with Zubin Varla as Theseus/Oberon, because I could almost see him trying to remember his words. He was better as Oberon, but the way he spoke was still odd.
Melissa Madden-Gray playing Hippolyta/Titania was very good though, she certainly didn't seem to be screaming her lines like the others and owned the stage whilst filling it. In theatre you're supposed to fill in any spaces on the stage, but she didn't leave any.
I also liked the energy of Puck played by Katy Owen, she was a bit like a modern day version of Barbara Windsor in her saucy mischievousness and she was a fun character to watch. I didn't see the point of her wire stunt though.
In her parallel character of Egeus, she had hints of Catherine Tate.
On that note and as an aside it is worth noting that the majority of the cast doubled up on roles, which is common with this play.
As for the four lovers, Lysander had a lovely chest and pair of legs. I was surprised to see that he hadn't been in more than this and an episode of Casualty. He had a similar presence to David Tennant in the way that he held himself and trod the boards, but he was one of those that was too frantic.
His counterpart Anjana Vasan in the role of Hermia was fine in her role, but nothing to talk about either way really.
I was disappointed with Ncuti Gatwa as Demetrius, because I had enjoyed his character Eric in 'Sex Education' (2019-23) so much, but I felt that his performance here was a bit like a sixth form student trying to prove that he could do Shakespeare, but without the full ability to do it justice and he was definitely one of the ones shouting.
I did like his rejected suitor Helenus though. Ankur Bahl might have played the part a tad too camply for my tastes, because I do prefer my men to be a bit more masculine and certainly in these gender swapping roles I feel that it works better if it actually stands out as being two masculine or feminine personas, but he was very handsome and his character was at least appealing. I could empathise six sympathise with him.
I did think that it was a shame that the couples, in their various swinging sets, were delivered so angrily, because it made it harder to believe their unions in the end and even beforehand. They were all far too aggressive towards each other, especially considering there was supposed to be so much love between them. This may have been another part where the shouting didn't help and softer words might have addressed the emotions more clearly.
The other characters, The Stage Players and The Fairies were all fairly good and after a while I got more used to their very specific character styles.
Ewan Wardrop in the role of Nick bottom was the only one that was appealing from the start though. I particularly liked the scene where he was stripped down to his pants. His persona had touches of Harry Enfield among other comedians and he came across as if he knew exactly what he was doing and where he should be, although he was a bit shouty too.
The Players as a whole seemed very daft though and it was like watching the build up to the 'Acorn Antiques' musical, where they're all pretending to prep for the stage show ahead, not just for the similarity of the situation, but in the comedic style that they were trying to present those scenes, however I didn't think that Victoria Woods humour wholly fit in with the bards famous work.
And their skit at the end, whilst funny to start with, did start to drag after a while and get silly.
Honestly though I did enjoy watching this interpretation. The story is so good that it was just a pleasure to watch and I liked the LGBT inclusion, especially because most of the cast were so handsome and the director had done a lot to make it sexy where possible, whilst not scrimping on the comedy.
The sitar music and generally "Indian" vibe seemed to work really well, which was a nice surprise. Sometimes the classic stories can be taken too far out of their origins and it can start to get muddied as a result, which it did with 'Twelfth Night', but this production blended the cultures well and the few other songs that were fitted in throughout also worked nicely.
I might have coped with the treatment of the direction and so on a lot more if it hadn't been for the over exuberance of them all and perhaps if the fairies had been the only ones being so over the top the balance between them all would have been better, but I do believe that I would watch this version again quite happily.
I thought that the bows at the end were great and a fantastic way to leave the audience with a smile on their faces.
There was definitely room for improvement overall, but I believe that it was one of Will's best plays, so it would be hard to wrong it too much.
630.39/1000.
