The Stage

A Midsummer Night’s Dream

Published Thursday 18 February 2010 at 11:55 by Jeremy Brien

It is easy to see why this magical mix of laughter and enchantment is the first work in the Canon to be granted a second spin in the 11 years of high-quality work from Shakespeare at the Tobacco Factory. The brilliantly crafted group of characters is ideally suited to artistic director Andrew Hilton’s intimate, audience-friendly approach, with the elements of mistaken identity on both sides of the spirit world, touches of malice and timeless poetry in perfect balance.

Amy Rockson (Titania) and Chris Donnelly (Bottom) in A Midsummer Night's Dream Photo: Toby Farrows

Hilton serves up a darker Dream than is often the case. He emphasises the cruelty as well as the merriment in the key scene of the woodland confrontation between the young lovers, with Ffion Jolly and Rebecca Pownall presenting Hermia and Helena as both shrill and angry in contrast to the rather fragile Lysander and Demetrius of Jack Hardwick and Benjamin Askew. Again, Jay Villiers’ aloof Oberon takes rather too much pleasure from his baiting of Amy Rockson’s yielding Titania.

There is no such hard edge to the homespun mechanicals, though. Chris Donnelly brings some delightful Marx Brothers’ touches to Nick Bottom, Felix Hayes’ Snout the Tinker almost steals the whole shebang as an Olympic weight-lifting ‘Wall’ in the Pyramus and Thisbe interlude, while Christopher Staines anchors the entire box of delights as an all-knowing Puck.

Ralph Richardson once said he had never seen a bad production of the Dream, but equally had never seen a perfect one. This sparkling offering helps tip the balance towards the latter.