Writer: William Shakespeare
Director: Atri Banerjee
Regent’s Park Open Air Theatre has put on almost 50 productions of Shakespeare’s enduring comedy over the years. This one, directed by Atri Banerjee, begins with the mechanicals proclaiming the stage as “this green plot”. However, Naomi Dawson’s stage doesn’t look very green; it’s more wooden than Shakespeare’s Globe. Most of the action is played out on the steps of an amphitheatre, while above, a band plays in a room wallpapered with pictures of trees, very much like how Virgin Active gyms decorate their yoga rooms. There’s no magic here at all.
Fortunately, if the set disappoints, the cast is fully equipped to bring out the humour. Oliver Huband (fresh from A Doll’s House at the Almeida) is a commanding presence as Theseus and a screwball as Oberon. Though the question remains: Why does he want Titania’s Indian changeling so much? In a yellow string vest and mauve trousers, his Oberon is a delight, and very human when he asks Puck to reverse most of their spells.
Georgia Bruce’s Puck is less mischievous than usual, dashing around the theatre in what looks like cycling shorts. Going off script occasionally, Puck takes a little getting used to, but when Puck complains about putting “a girdle round the earth” to find a flower that grows right next to Oberon, the result is wondrous. Bruce and Huband work so well together that they could be a comedy double act.
The verse is spoken clearly by all the cast, although at some points, the upstairs band of Titania’s fairies threatens to drown out their voices. Best of all in delivering the lines is crystal-clear Terique Jarrett as Demetrius, and his scenes with Mary Malone’s limerent Helena are hilariously played, especially when Malone tumbles out of the bushes on the side of the stage.
Deaf actor Nadeem Islam is Bottom. He’s funny, but perhaps there is a little too much clowning, especially in the first rehearsal of the mechanicals’ play. A few times the tomfoolery outstays its welcome, but Islam looks dashing in his blue velvet ass’s head, clearly enjoying the fairies’ attentions. For all the focus on comedy, it’s strange that when the play-within-a-play finally arrives, it’s not as funny as it should be, with Issam Al Ghussain’s Thisbe almost making it the tearjerker the mechanicals have planned it to be.
Jenny Rainford is slightly too loud and shouty as both Hippolyta and Titania, especially so when the other actors trust their mics. The shouting just makes Titania appear extremely angry or excited all the time. The musician fairies bring some steampunk sounds to proceedings, but the music, the wooden steps and the broad range in style of Tomãs Palmer’s costumes struggle to form a cohesive whole.
Banerjee is in no hurry, and so this midsummer night extends to nearly three hours. However, when the sun sets, the trees around the stage ultimately bring a sense of magic. Doors open up, and behind the wallpaper trees, we see, at last, originals.
Runs until 18 July 2026
