Shakespeare’s popular comedy, packed with ethereal magic and mischief has winged into town 400 years to the day of the famous playwright's death.
Under the talented wing of the RSC, Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream: A Play for the Nation brings local amateur actors and schoolchildren together with RSC professionals to rub shoulders in this big stage celebration of Shakespeare’s mirth filled play. Which, pleasingly, is very much the better for it.
This production is properly witty, with director Erica Whyman perfectly plucking every fairy string in her magical Athenian forest to join up the wordplay and slapstick timing. While the plot keeps to it’s Athens naming, in this tale of two couples led astray in fairy filled woods the night before the Duke of Athens wedding, the staging is all 1940s. With a blitz torn backdrop and a host of 40s inspired frocks, all served up with some jazzy musical numbers from the cheerful house band-cum-servants setup on the edges of the bombed out stage.
The principle nobles and fairies from the RSC in were on good form, yet it is the Hucknall based Lovelace theatre group who get the best laughs. Performing as the ‘rude mechanicals’ band of am dram tradesmen, busily prepping to perform for their Duke’s wedding celebrations. They gleefully get stuck into their bite sized tale of Pyramus and Thisbe in this play within a play, with excellent performances from Becky Morris as the bullishly confident Bottom (above) and Daniel Knight as a wonderfully camp Flute. Earning the most laughter I’ve ever heard at a Shakespeare comedy.
The play’s mischievous sprite Puck is outstanding, played with lithe elfin delight by Lucy Ellinson, her wide eyed cheeky energy carried off wonderfully in her cabaret style top hat and tails, complete with La Roux style boyish quiff. Her master, fairy King Oberon (Chu Omambala) is both cool and brooding in his white suit, manoeuvring in a highly charged atmosphere with the sensual Fairy Queen Titania (Ayesha Dharker) whom which he is fueding, clad in a stunning blood red Indian style dress. Indian visual touches appear throughout the show, with a hint of the Holi festival to be seen in coloured powder covered fairies, flowers and dance which contrast the exotic ethereal fairy realm with the 40s tones of the normal world.
Other leads of note included Jack Holden as Lysander and Chris Nayak as Demtrius, who both have a gift for comic timing and the delivery of manly lunges! Fine performances all round, duly lapped up by the appreciative audience and parents. Not forgetting the proud Mum’s and Dad’s down to see a fairy host made up of Nottingham school children, who enjoyed a few scenes as Titania’s fairy entourage.
Some of the musical numbers seemed a bit out of kilter with the show, songs for the sake of songs perhaps? However, they barely detracted from what was undoubtedly a blissfully funny show. A marvellous introduction for anyone new to Shakespeare.
Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream: A Play for the Nation plays at Nottingham’s Theatre Royal until Saturday 7 May 2016.
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