Writer: William Shakespeare
Director: Elle While
Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream is full of trickery, laughter and revelry, though only some of this hits in this new production, which is part of the 2023 summer season at Shakespeare’s Globe.
A Midsummer Night’s Dream centres around the love-square of Lysander, Demetrius, Helena and Hermia, who all fall foul of Oberon’s mischievous fairy Puck. Hermia is trying to escape with Lysander, hoping to avoid having to obey her father who wants her to marry Demetrius, while Helena, besotted with Demetrius, fights for the latter’s heart. Meanwhile, Oberon and Titania are locked in a volatile, and magical, marital conflict which results in Titania being charmed, falling for Bottom, an ambitious actor turned into a donkey by the clumsy fairy Puck.
Director Elle While’s production begins ambitiously, with a stylised physical routine setting out the central conflict between Oberon and Titania, who are fighting over a child whose presence is disrupting the natural order. This fight, full of grunts and roars, sets the tone for this piece which struggles to find its feet at times, with some muddled choices throughout.
Out of the four lovers, it is Francesca Mills, playing Hermia, who leads this performance. Mills proves adept at handling Shakespeare’s comedy well, but there is also a tenderness and warmth from Hermia, crafted carefully by Mills, as she faces the possibility of losing Lysander. In addition, there are genuine moments of brutality in the fights between her and Helena. Mills was born with Achondroplasia, a common form of dwarfism, and her lines about being ‘little’ and ‘low’ against ‘tall’ Helena, are particularly striking. Helena and Lysander’s brutal put-downs of Hermia’s height take on new meaning in this production and feel more sickening as a result.
Alongside Hermia is Isobel Thom, who plays Helena. Thom is back at Shakespeare’s Globe after starring in I, Joan last year, and, like Mills, handles the comedy well. Thom has a knack for a subtle facial expression, or widening glance, with just a flick of the eyes showing just enough emotion, or humour, to spark a reaction from the audience. Thom looks at ease on the Globe’s stage and this is another successful performance.
As Lysander and Demetrius respectively, Sam Crerar and Vinne Heaven work well with the limited material afforded to their characters. Their scrap in the second half is almost pantomime-esque, but both also prove useful at physical comedy, too, particularly when being charmed by Puck, performed by artistic director Michelle Terry. It is a shame that when the four lovers reunite by the end, this feels a little rushed. All four lover characters work well individually but there are only a few moments where there feels genuine affection between them.
Perhaps the most impressive performance of the night goes to the superb Bottom. Mariah Gale deservedly takes the plaudits at the end for landing most of the show’s comedic moments, including the most laughs anyone has got out of a lion’s roar, and is impressive in making so much out of simple Donkey noises, working well with the impeccable Titania (Marianne Oldham) to get some of the show’s bigger belly laughs.
Terry’s portrayal of Puck is interesting, straddling being a goofy, mischievous magical enforcer while also becoming quite eerie in certain moments. Her physical work is strong and Terry certainly holds the crowd’s attention on stage. The moments where Puck controls Lysander and Demetrius are creepy, with Terry puppeteering the pair well, signposting the pervasive impact Puck has on the characters around them.
It is in these moments, and in other stylistic choices, though, where the performance falls slightly short. The production promises action in an enchanted forest yet, apart from a few turquoise vines climbing the pillars, this forest never arrives, apart from a few twig-made pieces of headgear for Titania’s fairies. There is a distinct lack of magic in this performance, aside from a nice moment where Puck and Oberon exchange a flower, which leaves the piece feeling slightly empty. Terry also has experience working on gender-fluid productions, which this production almost promises to emulate at the beginning but never quite reaches these aims as the piece unfolds.
A Midsummer Night’s Dream has a lot of lofty ambitions, and is well-delivered by a superb cast who handle the central lovers’ plot, and the genuinely quite funny play-within-a-play subplot, but its lack of magic and the confusing stylistic choices, with sudden bursts of random physical moments and musical pieces, jar.
Just like the trysts of Lysander, Demetrius, Helena and Hermia, this is a muddled affair.
Runs until 12 August 2023
The Reviews Hub Score
A muddled affair
