The music is the thing for this midsummer night, which centres quite literally around a piano on stage – and, in its development, around a score by The Feeling’s Dan Gillespie Sells. The set design by Chiara Stephenson includes a large orb moon overhead, twinkling stars, and colourful costumes, which combine with bewitching lullabies and brief melodies to successfully create an otherworldly atmosphere.
A Midsummer Night’s Dream follows four young lovers and a group of actors over the course of one night, spent in a forest outside of Athens – where fairy magic intervenes to confound the usual order of things. The setting is modern, meaning we get the feeling of being somewhere we don’t quite recognise, but not somewhere that’s a million miles away either. Aide to Fairy King Oberon, Puck (played by Bobby Delaney) encourages this sense, captivating with his speech directly to the audience which encourages us to consider this entire evening a dream, pulling us closer into the other world over the course of the play.
Standout performances here come from Patricia Allison as plucky Hermia, together with the comedic performances from Daniel Rigby as Bottom and Sophia Nomvete as Peta Quince, leader of a local acting troop. It’s the finale however that steals the show, as the troop performs their version of the play Pyramus and Thisbe, but not quite as you might expect. The performance is re-fashioned as a glam rock extravaganza, complete with wigs, platform boots and glittery unitards. It’s a feel-good chaser that provides a suitable end to a play that has consciously invested time and energy into its musical credentials.
Go for the experience of Shakespeare in a different guise, stay for the glam rock megamix at the end.
- Words by
- Emma Liasides