A Midsummer Night’s Dream

Published Thursday 22 May 2008 at 14:50 by Catherine Usher

Beginning with an austere and stark setting in which Hermia, played by Pippa Nixon, is ordered by her father to abandon the man she loves, the audience’s impatience for the magical fairyland that makes up the majority of the story is built up deliciously.

As Theseus, Duke of Athens, and his wife Hippolyta, Tom Mannion and Siobhan Redmond reveal only the slightest of insights into the magic and mischief they’ll generate later as the king and queen of the fairies. As Oberon and Titania, their RP pronunciation is replaced by melodic Scottish accents and their stiff costumes become flamboyant in both colour and texture. Redmond in particular has great fun swishing about the stage in a huge pink multi-layered gown.

Puck, Oberon’s attendant, is also a teasing treat, continuing the variation of accents with his Yorkshire-sounding delivery.

The plight of the quartet of lovers is amusingly played out and Laura Rogers’ Helena is particularly impressive. Avoiding sounding shrill and needy, she encapsulates the bewildered indignation of going from having no suitors to two, as a result of some mischievously-placed magic potion.

With the romantic elements of the story containing so much well-observed comedy, the humorous parts are consequently cranked up to the slapstick max, which can sometimes become a little tiresome. Much of the audience lapped it up though, which encouraged Paul Hunter’s Nick Bottom to ham up his ass routine to unbelievable proportions. The Pyramus and Thisbe play within a play is also almost uncomfortably farcical, but again, it was a hit with the howling Globe audience.

Ultimately this is a magical show, filled with charm, beautifully expressive music and innovative and nicely-placed choreography. Although the sets - and dare one say, the concept - are simple, the glorious Globe setting is the perfect backdrop for one of Shakespeare’s most bewitching and accessible plays.