A Midsummer Night's Dream REVIEW 25 April 2024 **1/2

THEATRE

Written by William Shakespeare, Bell Shakespeare

At Fairfax Studio, Arts Centre Melbourne until 11 May 2024

Reviewer: Kate Herbert

Stars: **1/2

This review is published only on this blog. I’ll present a radio review on Arts Weekly on 3MBS on Sat 4 May 2024. KH

Imogen Sage, Richard Pyros, Matu Ngaropo (front. Photo by Brett Boardman

 

 

 Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream is a playful romantic and comical romp that is littered with magic, fairies, laughs, unrequited love and eloping lovers.

Usually, the most entertaining and hilarious scenes are those featuring the group of tradesmen known as The Mechanicals, a band of amateur actors who are rehearsing a riotously appalling performance for the Duke. Actors playing this group need to be exceptional clowns working as a cohesive ensemble to pull off these characters and their comic business.

 

Unfortunately, the comedy in this production, directed by Peter Evans, is overwrought and unsuccessful for the most part. The opening physical comedy is laboured and delays the actual start of The Mechanicals’ usually very funny rehearsal far too long.

 

There are some successful performances, particularly Matu Ngaropo as the vain, overconfident and absurd Bottom, and Richard Pyros playing Oberon, the Fairy King, as well as delightfully clownish Flute, while Imogen Sage is stately as Titania.

 

But there are problems: Shakespeare’s text, narrative and characters are not penetrated or given full range, the lyrical dialogue is laboured, there are some harsh vocal tones, and the joy and delight of this play is often lost. The female characters are played as modern women with rather more aggression than positive assertiveness.

 

The character of Puck (Ella Prince) is commonly played as mischievous, playful, enchanting, enchanted and somewhat ethereal. However, Puck in this production is weird, almost alien and uncomprehending of humans, which could be viable. But the character here is humourless, cruel, and most of all, without charm or playfulness. We need to love and enjoy Puck. We don’t!

Meanwhile, in line with this darker, more ominous tone of the production, the black-clad actors playing Titania’s fairy servants look more like looming demons than charming fairies as they mill about their mistress.

 

Actors playing multiple roles is common and often effective in productions of the Dream, but it seems a drawback in this instance, because some of the cast lack the versatility to carry off the multiple character transformations.

 

The effective design is a simple, large, tumbledown wooden frame resembling a dilapidated barn wall that provides a vehicle for entrances, exits and hidden observers including Titania, Oberon and his servant, Puck, who all perch on, and peer from the upper levels.

 

This is a valiant attempt at a new interpretation of Shakespeare’s Dream but, ultimately, it fails to deliver the captivating, magical quality of this romantic comedy.

 

by Kate Herbert

Isabel Burton, Richard Pyros, Matu Ngaropo, Imogen Sage, Ella Prince, Ahunim Abebe and Laurence Young–.Photo- Brett Boardman

 

CAST:

Ella Prince as Puck
Ahunim Abebe as Hermia / Snug
Isabel Burton as Helena/ Starveling
Mike Howlett as Demetrius / Snout
Matu Ngaropo as Bottom / Egeus
Richard Pyros as Theseus / Oberon / Flute

Imogen Sage as Titania / Hippolyta / Quince

Laurence Young as Lysander / Mechanical

CREATIVE TEAM:

Director Peter Evans
Associate Director Julia Billington
Assistant Director Dan Graham
Set and Costume Designer Teresa Negroponte

Lighting Designer Benjamin Cisterne

Composer and Sound Designer Max Lyandvert

Fight and Intimacy Director Nigel Poulton

Voice Coach Jack Starkey-Gill
Dramaturg James Evans

 

 

 

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