Figure: A Midsummer Night’s Dream – Opera Holland Park, London

Writer: William Shakespeare

Composer: Felix Mendelssohn

Director: Samuel Rayner

Musical director: Frederick Waxman

To unite Mendelssohn’s incidental music for A Midsummer Night’s Dream with Shakespeare’s play has long been the dream of director, Samuel Rayner, and Frederick Waxman, musical director of Figure, now realised in this production for Opera Holland Park.

It’s certainly a delight to listen to this fresh performance of Mendelssohn’s familiar music. His famous overture, written when he was 17, bursts with lyrical ideas, conjuring up in myriad ways Shakespeare’s magical fairy world. Under Waxman’s direction, the orchestra, playing historical instruments, produce a truly airy light-footedness. A strong wind and brass section create the more down-to-earth world of the mechanicals. Particularly impressive are the horns and Jeff Miller, on bass ophicleide, the rarely-heard ancestor of the tuba.

The work is mostly orchestral, but there is charming vocal scoring too. Mendelssohn’s songs, including ‘Ye spotted snakes’ and ‘Over hill, over dale,’ are exquisitely sung by sopranos Rowan Pierce and Madison Nonoa and an accomplished children’s choir from Theatre Peckham Academy Glee Club.

Of the cast, the stand-out performer is Anna Leong Brophy as both Hippolyta and Titania. Hippolyta is too often played as a spiky, disengaged character, a shadow to Titania. But Brophy makes her newly compelling, an assured, alluring presence. As Titania she is simply radiant, her every move is thrillingly graceful. Of the other actors, Ray Fearon is powerful in the roles of Oberon and Theseus, Eleanor Sutton a funny Helena, forever munching snacks out of her picnic basket and Joelle Taylor creates an interesting troll-like Puck.

Jay Mailer gives an impressive physicality to Bottom, but leans too heavily on Bottom’s desire to dominate. He tends to shout exuberantly, and because he’s miked, his words are often distorted. And this is a significant problem with many of the miked actors. It may be a technical issue with the sound balance, but the lack of clarity seriously impairs much of the production.

The decision to have actors speak over some of the music also feels misjudged. Is this because Shakespeare’s play and Mendelssohn’s extended score have to be shoehorned into a projected running time of under three hours? Whatever the reason, it just doesn’t work. For instance, although one can’t get a more hackneyed number than Mendelssohn’s Wedding March, it would have been lovely to focus on what this alert, sensitive orchestra makes of it, rather than have Bottom declaiming his lines over the top. One wonders, too, how much rehearsal time the cast have had with the full orchestra, particularly when they have to perform on Opera Holland Park’s difficult stage. And perhaps it’s the issue of the stage, or perhaps of direction, but the mechanicals, try as they might, simply fail to raise a laugh. There are still some technical problems to iron out too. Spotlights don’t always appear, leaving performers in the dark. And there is clearly an issue with timing

The set and costumes are beautifully designed by Emma Hollows, who keeps to an elegant palette of cream and black, with effective mirrored details to distinguish the play’s various couples. Hollows’s use of great sweeping banners of cream silk is brilliant. They are constantly billowing, or extended into wave-like shapes to conjure up a weightless maze in which the lovers get entangled and separated.

It’s an enjoyable enough evening, but lacks the precision and cohesion of Waxman’s Serses, performed at last year’s Opera Holland Park.

Runs until 1 July 2023