This isn’t a sponsored post.
BrumHour saw A Midsummer Night’s Dream at the invite of The RSC.
By Dave Massey twitter.com/BrumHour
Review: A Midsummer Night’s Dream at The RSC, Royal Shakespeare Theatre
⭐⭐⭐⭐”A delightful production!”
Directed by Eleanor Rhode
Bottom (Mathew Baynton), along with the other workers, are putting on a play for the gentry including, Egeus (Neil McCaul) whose daughter Hermia (Dawn Sievewright) is in love with Lysander (Ryan Hutton) except her father doesn’t approve. Meanwhile, Oberon (Bally Gill) seems to have grown bored of Titania (Sirine Saba) and sets about causing his own levels of chaos with Puck (Played by Premi Tamang at this performance).
Initially, the threads of this whimsical dreamy story seem to have very little to do with each other, they almost seem to be three split stories with their own setting and spend about ten minutes expanding each of these stories. Is it set in Athens in Greece, or a town called Athens in the UK?
The story itself is actually set in the 1980s from the clothing, lighting and powerful electronic music. The stage, with the audience on three sides, is jet black with a hanging metallic-looking curtain at the rear. It almost looks like a gig venue with its huge bright lights. But then the hanging paper circular lanterns take on their own life, both providing their own soundscape and individually programmed colours.
I’d never seen a full version of this story before, but the characters’ names are very well known, after seeing The RSC’s digital version of Dream in 2021, I knew this was a production full of fantasy, and adventures. But I don’t know how it compares to a “traditional” version, if there is such a thing. I found it funny, intense, whimsical and filled with bags of charm. Some people might find the digital elements a bit too loud or intense.
Mathew Baynton is excellent, as you’d expect, as Bottom whilst Premi Tamang was great covering for the role of Puck. The others fight for biggest scene stealer but Mitesh Soni playing Flute, steals this crown for me, his chaotic shock adds even more humour to an already amusing show.
At two hours and fifty minutes including interval, this production could afford to have fifteen minutes trimmed from somewhere but I’m not brave enough to say where!
A delightful production, A Midsummer Night’s Dream is at The RSC’s Royal Shakespeare Theatre until 30th March 2024. Book tickets here: rsc.org.uk/a-midsummer-nights-dream.
