A Midsummer Night's Dream is about romantic love but, as Shakespeare is quick to tell us, 'The course of true love never did run smooth'. The play is a wonderfully lyrical reflection on love’s many manifestations - from cruelty and self-deception to happiness and laughter - blended with the magic of fairy enchantment.
This most popular of Shakespeare’s plays seems a perfect way to celebrate the 400th anniversary of his death on 23 April 1616.
CAST
Theseus/Oberon
Andy Taylor
Hippolyta/Titania
Kay Haw
Philostrate/Puck
Chris Collins
Mustardseed
Immi Lea
Egeus
David Dunford
Hermia
Ali Patrick-Smith
Lysander
Martin Pikett
Demetrius
Matthew Thomason
Helena
Chloe Senior
Quince
Bob Wildgust
Nick Bottom/Pyramus
Ian Smith
Francis Flute/Thisby
Hayden Bradley
Tom Snout/Moonshine
Tom Orton
Snug/Lion
Stephen Herring
Robin Starveling/Wall
Linda Croston
Peaseblossom
Lucy Wakefield
Cobweb
Sally Nix
Moth
Lesley Brown
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"A Midsummer Night's Dream"
Lace Market Theatre
Who'd have thought 400 years after his death we would still be enjoying the great poetry that Shakespeare wrote for the stage. This is one of his best comedies but in today's terms this could be seen as a fore runner of the "rom-com", After all, this is a love story for three of the couples featured which ends well for all three.
I'm not going to precis the story as you should know the tale of Hermia and her love triangle and the mischievous fairy, Puck who, on orders from the fairy king Oberon, throws the fairy spanner in the works, but then gets it all sorted out just in time for the happy ending.
Many people still have a vision of Shakespeare as being hard to understand, but this is not so. In the hands of a great cast and wonderful director, this is not the case and they all bring out the obvious comedy of the play while showing the dark side of the fairy kingdom. Yes, they aren't all Tinkerbells you know!
Hermia is in love with Lysander but Demetrius also loves Hermia (Classic love triangle) but Hermia's father, Thesus, has told his daughter that she marries Demetrius or dies. well, what's a girl to do? Obvious, she plans to run off to the Shakespearian equivalent of Gretna Green to marry. Hermia tells her best friend forever, Helena, who has a massive crush on Demetrius, who only has eyes for Hermia and dismisses Helena's advances.
So what does a best friend do? Only tells Demetrius what's going on and all four end up in the fairy forest and that is where the fun really hits the fan!
Shakespeare's innovative writing is the fore runner of dream sequences where the dream characters are also part of the "real life" in the play characters. just think how well this worked in "The Wizard Of Oz" and the "play within a play" farce style plays.
Andy Taylor (Thesus/Oberon) shows the two sides of the characters with the "master of the house" kind of father and the almost cruel King Of The Fairies, Oberon.
Kay Haw (Hippolyta/Titania) again matches the contrasts as the loyal wife of Thesus and the opposing man eater Queen of the fairies Titania, who falls for a right ass!
Ali Patrick-Smith returns to the stage after a break of a few years and makes me wonder why? Why she has stayed away from the footlights for so long? She delivers some lovely emotive lines of the bard, especially when Lysander is under the influence (of Puck's magic) and again when the spell has been lifted.
Lysander, one third of the love triangle, is played by Martin Pikett along with Matthew Thomason as Demetrius. They make a brilliant pairing as rivals and there was one part when i almost expected a Morecambe and Wise style skipping off of the stage complete with unsheathed swords aloft. Matthew plays the "posh" character so well and says a lot in many of his "down the nose" looks.
Poor Helena, played by Chloe Senior, What a poor taste in men she has, but you can't help who you fall in love with I suppose. Chloe puts in a wonderful, at times quite scatty, performance, adding to the comic feel of the play.
Christopher Collins, as Puck, plays the mischievous fairy, darker than I have seen Puck played before, and this really suits the character. He's almost spiteful to the humans and he relishes the mischief he causes. Chris also looked like he was revelling in the role. Chris also doubles up as Philostrate when not in a dream sequence.
The "players", the equivalent of the modern community theatre crowd, are hilarious in their play for Thesus and the crew. Robert Wildgust (Quince), Ian Smith (Bottom) who was the tops at making an ass of himself, Hayden Bradley (Flute) who has a natural comedy feel, Tom Orton (Snout), who also seems to lose a dog along the way, Stephen Herring (Snug), the campest lion I've ever seen, and Linda Croston (Starveling) who also gave a wonderfully comical portrayal of a hole in the wall, believe me you have to see the subtleness of this piece. A beautifully crafted troupe of comics.
Not forgetting the other fairies, Lucy Wakefield (Peaseblossom), Sally Nix (Cobweb) and Lesley Brown (Moth). Immi Lea (Mustardseed) and also David Dunford (Egeus).
What a wonderful cast! And what a production team as well. Jane Herring directs the piece with just the right balance of comedy, which i feel has been enhanced to bring out the true comedic writings of Shakespeare. Jane also balances this with just the right amount of darkness within the fairy kingdom. A great contrast of light and shade which, with Shakespeare, I imagine, isn't the easiest job for a director.
Loved the costumes; the colours and richness of the clothes brought to life the period of the piece. Not just for the women but some great garb for the male actors as well, and that goes for the wigs.
Brilliant set design by Mark James, as was the lighting, designed by Simon Carter, creating a magical atmosphere. Also creating a mood with the original music which was written for this production by Piotr Wisniewski.
I just loved the whole overall production of this piece of classic theatre. Classic but you get the feeling of a more modern atmosphere, created mainly, I feel, by the comedy elements that have been brought to the fore, while retaining the Shakespearian skeleton of his wonderful, eloquent stage poetry.
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A Midsummer Night's Dream, Lace Market Theatre, Nottingham, review
A Midsummer Night's Dream is performed so frequently in Nottingham, it's a reasonable expectation that any director will be coming up with a fresh insight or two. And one hopes s/he will do this without plastering him or herself all over the play to the extent of vandalising it.
Jane Herring succeeds in this and other respects. At the same time as offering an admirably gimmick-free interpretation of Dream, the production brings out a dark underside of the play. But it's not a bolt-on extra: it's an underside that's integral to the thing as Shakespeare wrote it.
It seems to matter little that some dialogue is cut (we're told about 5%), and Starveling, one of the low-life mechanicals, becomes a woman. Done by Linda Croston, an actor who makes the most of any role she's in, Starveling becomes one of the most entertaining characters in the play.
Every member of cast without exception demonstrates an intelligent respect for the dialogue, and a text of poetic beauty outstanding even by Shakespeare's standards.
Andy Taylor and Kay Haw are excellent, both as Theseus and Hippolyta, and Oberon and Titania. It usually makes sense to observe this particular doubling-up convention: it underlines the idea that ructions and upsets in the natural world have counterparts, indeed are caused by, parallel phenomena in the supernatural fairy kingdom.
There are neat physical contrasts between Hermia (Ali Patrick-Smith) and Helena (Chloe Senior), and Lysander (Martin Pikett) and Demetrius (Matthew Thomason). Their mix-up scenes in the woods are quite harrowing, as well as comic.
Philostrate and Puck are each played in a fine performance by Chris Collins. It's partly a matter of the Goth make-up, but Puck and Titania are the chief generators of the decidedly un-playful malevolence of the evening. And Haw adds more than a touch of disturbing eroticism to her Titania part, especially in the scene with Bottom.
Bottom (Ian Smith) and the other low-lifers are done well; with the laughs in the play within a play, for a welcome change, coming from delivery of line rather than knockabout slapstick. Their costumes look straight out of a Bruegel peasant painting.
All the more or less authentic Elizabethan costumes are effective. And it's a versatile and adaptable set, with some superb and original background music and song, composed by Piotr Wisniewski.
The production is being taken to Karlsruhe in Germany next month. Lucky Karlsruhe.
Read the original article here.
Review: A Midsummer Night's Dream. The Lace Market Theatre. Nottingham
As Shakespeare wrote in his comical play A Midsummer Night’s Dream "And as imagination bodies forth/The forms of things unknown, the poet’s pen/Turns them to shapes, and gives to airy nothing/A local habitation and a name…" Thus he could have been describing this creative and visually poetic production of his play as presented this week by the Lace Market Theatre in Nottingham.
Director Jane Herring and designer Mark James have created a darkly glittering production where the emphasis is on the foreboding Athenian woodland and even darker personalities and deeds of Oberon (Andy Taylor), Titania (Kay Haw) and Puck (Christopher Collins). The superb lighting effects by Simon Carter give this amateur production a highly professional feel. Original music composer by Piotr Wisniewski adds to the otherworldly feeling of danger and comedy. The magical costumes and wigs made by the Lace Market Theatre costume department are superb.
Taylor and Haw have a great chemistry together throughout and especially in their transitions from bickering Duke Theseus and aloof Queen Hippolyta to revengeful Oberon and proud Titania. The Lace Market Theatre audience are truly graced with Taylor and Haw’s eloquent delivery of Shakespeare’s beautiful poetic text. Their characters have a richness borne from both actors’ experience and their affinity with the character’s motivations. The speeches are approached and conveyed with a naturalism that makes them totally understandable to a contemporary audience.
Overall the mutually satisfying actor-audience comprehension and enjoyment of the play is largely borne out of all the actors performing in a naturalistic style. The definition of all the characters’ personalities is very clear and this reviewer loved the clever and distinct personalities of Titania’s troop of madcap fairies played by Lucy Wakefield, Sally Nix, Lesley Brown and Immi Lea.
Collins, as the mischievous Puck is no cheeky and likeable Robin Goodfellow but rather a scary mortal hating sprite who even in his eventual moments of putting his wrongful spells to right is reluctantly sly in his redemptions. One has the feeling that his malevolent character would happily let the mortals continue to live the nightmarish existence he has temporarily bestowed on them were it not for the dominance of Oberon – King of the Fairies. In a very enjoyable evening of some truly excellent performances Collins’ portrayal of Puck is utterly outstanding.
The young lovers Hermia (Ali Patrick-Smith), Helena (Chloe Senior), Lysander (Martin Pikett) and Demetrius (Matthew Thomason) are delightfully amusing once under Puck’s mistaken spells and their physical comedy is one of the highlights of the play. David Dunford is authentically commanding as Egeus.
And so, to get to the bottom of this review and the central character of Bottom played with just the right amount of bombast and fun by Ian Smith. Having become the object of lust for a very sexed up Titania who can’t keep her wandering hands off the fly buttons on Bottom’s trousers, Smith is subtly amusing in his sexual confusions. Haw’s lusty and intelligent interpretation of Titania also reveals points of frustration that this 'attractive' mortal is not equally thoroughly under her spell but take him to her flowery bed she does. Bottom returns with his donkey tail telling a naughty tale of his night’s revelries.
Much of the action in this play revolves around real or illusory love and the word 'dote' appears more than once. Interestingly the word derives from the early German dotten meaning to be foolish or deranged. As this production is going to be performed in at the Die Kaeuze Theater Karlsruhe in May this year this reviewer would say that both audiences in Nottingham and Karlsruhe would be thoroughly dotty to miss it.
Audience members familiar with A Midsummer Night’s Dream will anticipate being amused by the dotty antics of the common labourers Bottom (Ian Smith), Peter Quince (Robert Wildgust), Flute (Hayden Bradley), Snout (Tom Orton), Snug (Stephen Herring) and Robin Starveling (Linda Croston). The Lace Market actors do them proud and bring out the comedy perfectly. Their wacky in the Palace of Theseus production of the short tragedy of Pyramus and Thisbe is one of the most delightfully funny and original this reviewer has had the pleasure of seeing. To misquote Peter Quince they 'do not offend and it is done with great good will'.
And so, the great and good William Shakespeare, currently enjoying his 400th anniversary, would be proud of this production at Nottingham’s Lace Market Theatre. It may soon sell out so get your tickets booked whilst ye may.
Read the original article here.
Faszinierend finster
Das Lace Market Theatre in Karlsruhe (1): „Ein Sommernachtstraum“
„Very British“ wird es dieser Tage wieder im Theatre „Die Käuze“ und im Jakobustheater, denn das Lace Market Theatre aus Nottingham gastiert im Rahmen der deutsch-englischen Theaterbegegnungen in Karslruhe. Seit 1982 besuchen sich die Schauspieler aus der Stadt der Robin-hood-Legende und die Karlsruher Akteure zweijährlich. Dieses Mal präsentierten die britischen Darsteller mit dem „Sommernachtstraum“ von William Shakespeare einen Klassiker englischer Theaterkunst.
Das Stück Geschichte erhält durch das professionelle Ensemble unter Regie von Jane Herring einen Neuanstrich, der ein angepeitschtes Publikum ausgelassen stimmt. Die farbenfrohe, hellerleuchtete Hofgesellschaft steht der drunklen Feenwelt gegenüber, die im düsteren Wald bei Mondschein magische Rituale durchführt, umrahmt von einem mystisch-wilden Bühnenbild in dem grüne Stoffbahnen Unterholz andeuten, Lichterketten funkeln and über allem der gehörnte Mond steht.
Kunstvoll gefertigte elisabethanische Kostüme und die bäuerliche Gewandung der Spielleute bilden dabei einen deutlichen Kontrast zu den glitzernden und mit Blättern verzierten, naturbezogenen Kleidern der Waldbewohner. Dabei wird von Minute zu Minute immer klarer: Die Interpretation der Briten hat es auf die finster schattierten Seiten des träumerisch-zauberhaften Dramas abgesehen.
Ein gekrönter Oberon (Andy Taylor) im mächtig grauen Herrscheranzug, ergänzt von einem pechschwarz funkelnden Puck (Chris Collins) - da kann einem schonmal mulmig werden. Denn Puck versteht es, die Menschenwelt intrigant durcheinanderzubringen, Collins ist die Rolle hierbei wie auf den Leib geschneidert. Dem steht die wuchtige Ausstrahlung der Titania (Kay Haw) in nichts nach, wenn sie einen überforderten Nick Bottom (Ian Smith) gekonnt reizvoll verführt, während dieser, von wunderschönen Feen umschwärmt, durchaus seinen Gefallen daran findet. Überhaupt mutiert er zum sympathischen Publikumsliebling mit seinen flauschigen Eselsohren und der einfältigen, aberwitzigen Komik.
Übertreffen kann ihn da nur noch eine dramtisch-verzweifelte Hermia (Ali-Patrick-Smith), die auf den Knien rutschend ihrem angebeteten Demetrius mit ausdrucksstarker Mimik hinterher schmachtet. Möchte man im einen Moment noch mitfühlend seufzen, muss man im nächsten bereits wieder herzhaft lachen. Denn wenn Hermia auf ihre irritierte, quietschig-kreischende Freundin Helena (Chloe Senior) trifft und einen Streit vom Zaun bricht, den nicht einmal die Gründe der Auseinandersetzung, Lysander und Demetrius, beilegen können, retten nur noch Flucht oder Schwertkampf. Stimmen überschlagen sich, Herren kämpfen und Feen kichern. Letzlich ist „Saint Valentine's“ vorbei, alle finden erwacht zu ihren rechten Partnern und ein fröhlicher Reigen bittet zur Schluss-pirouette, die für begeisterte Beifallsstürme sorgt.
Fascinatingly dark
The Lace Market Theatre in Karlsruhe [1]: A Midsummer Night’s Dream
“Very British” is the mood again in the Die Käuze and Jakobus Theatres, as the Lace Market Theatre from Nottingham is performing in the context of the German-English theatre exchanges in Karlsruhe. Since 1982 actors from the city of the Robin Hood legend and from Karlsruhe have visited each other every two years. This time the British performers are presenting Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night’s Dream, a classic of English theatrical art.
The play receives a new coat of paint through the professional ensemble under the direction of Jane Herring and incites the audience to exuberance. The colourful and brightly lit court society contrasts with the dark fairy world, carrying out magical rituals by moonlight in the gloomy wood, framed by a mystically wild stage set where green cloth paths hint at undergrowth, chains of light twinkle and the hornèd moon stands over all.
Artistically produced Elizabethan costumes and the rural dress of the mechanicals form a clear contrast with the woodland folk in their sparkling clothes decorated with leaves. From minute to minute it becomes clearer: this British interpretation has concentrated on the dark, shadowy side of the dreamy magical drama.
Oberon in a crown (Andy Taylor), in the powerfully grey suit of a ruler, complemented by Puck (Chris Collins), twinkling and pitch-black, are enough to make you uneasy. For the scheming Puck knows how to bring the world of humans into confusion – Collins is tailor-made for the role. The powerful charisma of the accomplished Titania (Kay Haw) is however a match for him, when she charmingly tempts the overtaxed Bottom (Ian Smith); he, in turn, with beautiful fairies flocking around him, thoroughly enjoys himself. He mutates into a likeable audience darling, with his fluffy donkey’s ears and his simple and crazy sense of comedy.
He is outdone only by the dramatically desperate Hermia (Ali Patrick-Smith), who languishes after her idol Demetrius, sliding on her knees with expressive gestures and facial expressions. We sigh in sympathy for a moment, only to laugh heartily the next. For when Hermia meets her annoyed friend Helena (Chloe Senior), squeaking and squawking, and a quarrel suddenly breaks out, which not even Lysander and Demetrius, the causes of the dispute, can settle, flight or a duel are the only remedies. Voices crack, gentlemen fight and fairies giggle. Finally St Valentine’s Day is past, all awake with their proper partners and a joyful round dance asks for a final pirouette, provided by an enthusiastic storm of applause.
(translation by Heather Savage)
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