User Reviews

Absolutely adore 'A Midsummer Night's Dream', ever since primary school when studying it and reading it the text out loud when playing a character (loved that way of learning, not everyone did). Love the colourful characters, the magic, the playfulness, the hilarious comedy and at times pathos. The story may seem complicated on first glance, with a lot going on, but actually 'A Midsummer Night's Dream' is one of Shakespeare's most accessible plays, and it is one of my favourites of his and adore the amazing text and how he uses it.

Have seen many versions of 'A Midsummer Night's Dream' and there is a good deal to admire about them all, even the weakest which for me is the mixed feelings 80s BBC production. While liking the 2014 production also from the Shakespeare Globe very much, despite a couple of issues, this one from 2016 is almost as good. The comedy works more consistently and there was more risk taking, though the other production had more heart. It is not perfect by any stretch and is not for everybody, but to me it was most enjoyable.

Did think there were times where the production got rather too energised and frenetic, which meant that it didn't have enough room to breathe. Meaning that the pathos wasn't there enough and the larkiness at the beginning is overdone.

Occasionally the doubling of roles was a little confusing, which was a problem when the plotting and misunderstandings became more complicated. The way Hermia and Lysander are directed doesn't always make sense and is at odds with the text, namely being all over each other when he really has to keep persisting in his seduction attempts.

There is however a huge amount to like. Loved the Bollywood-influenced production values, which were rich in vibrant colour and flamboyant lavish spectacle without swamping the drama too much. The staging was a riotous joy from beginning to end and didn't fall into distaste in my view, and just about manages to be coherent even when not traditional. It sees everything with the lovers have more sensuality and youthfulness than usual, Titania at her most flamboyant and most foxy, Helena (here gender reversed) at her, or his, most camp, the comedy really amped up to the max with raucous energy, Oberon at his most menacing, the most surreal taking of bows and the single funniest rendition of the Pyramus and Tisbe play personally seen.

Gender reversals have wildly varied since becoming more popular and frequent with particularly Royal Shakespeare Company, but it worked very well here. Especially with Puck. The music has a lot of energy, the party vibe in all the forest action was infectious and seldom exhausting, the comedy is genuinely very funny to hilarious with nothing feeling over-worked or mugged and it was refreshing to see a lot of taking of risks and seeing characters in a different light. All the performances are great, especially for Puck, Titania and Oberon.

Concluding, not an essential but well worth seeing. 7/10.

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.

Not worth the recording media or streaming.

This is an attempt to turn the play into a musical. It is performed at the Globe Theater. The musical portion does not match the original intent of the play at all. Emma Rice's is no Julie Taymor.

Emma tried once before "Shakespeare's Globe: Twelfth Night" (2017)

Who are these people?

Helenus - Ankur Bahl Puck - Katy Owen Bottom - Ewan Wardrop

Even though the play was meant to be seen (in this case heard) you will also want to read it. There are overlapping themes of the misadventures of lovers, enthusiastic thespians, and fairies as part of a Midsummer Night's Dream.