A Midsummer Night’s Dream: York Theatre Royal
THE master who created Coriolanus and King Lear and Hamlet was also the master of gloriously unbridled silliness. And here is the ultimate farce, with a bit of slapstick thrown in for good measure.
We’re away with the fairies in the forest beyond Athens for A Midsummer Night’s Dream, but there’s nothing fey about these sprites. For all the glitter and organza, Troy Alexander and Natalie Winsor’s Oberon and Titania are feisty, muscular characters and all the more comical for it, when the spells are cast. Particularly so with Winsor’s wooing of the ass-headed Bottom.
It’s a fast-paced production, a simple three-D set enhanced by fabulous and elaborate costumes (and impressive costume changes) with energetic new music composed by Michael Childs. And lots of innovation and experiment. It’s interesting to see Jeremy Stockwell cast as an older Puck, for example, older, wiser and even more cunning.
Much is being made of the casting of the clown Tweedy as Bottom, but at first his extended, over-the-top antics felt gratuitous to what’s already a divinely comic show. But when this turned into an ensemble piece towards the end, a terrific finale turned into a crescendo of laughter and song.
For us, if anyone in this great team is to be singled out with a label of excellence, it’s Laura Noble, as the fawning, love-lorn Helen and then, especially, as Flute playing Thisbe in the play within a play. She pouts and flounces with stylish glee. Credit to all with the mutiple roles, of course: Oliver Brooks as Lysander and Starveling, Thomas Nelstrop as Demetrius and Snout (an excellent Wall) , and the little-but-fierce Nadia Shash as Hermia and Quince.
And most of them tripling as the fairies, joined by Emmeline Braefield and Ross Telfer. The entire spectacle is a joy to behold, an escapist fantasy of the highest order. It’s directed by Paul Milton, in association with Cheltenham’s Everyman Theatre, and runs until Saturday.
Tickets and details: https://www.yorktheatreroyal.co.uk/show/a-midsummer-nights-dream/?book=true
Photos: Anthony Thompson: Thousand Word Media Ltd
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