One of Shakespeare’s most popular comedies, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, is a challenge for directors who want to put their own individual stamp on the story.
I loved director Gary Sefton’s previous work at the Royal & Derngate. Both his Christmas treat, A Christmas Carol, and the Diary of a Nobody were eccentric, inventive and hugely enjoyable.
But The Dream turned into a bit of a nightmare for me with the cast failing to embrace the rhythm to properly deliver The Bard’s poetic language; a clumsy set that had actors clambering up and down stairs and poor Bottom make an ass of himself by defecating on stage. The audience waited with gleeful anticipation for one of the young fairies to accidentally tread in the stage waste. That shouldn’t have been a stand out moment of the first Act but it sadly was.
The magic of the story was completely lost. In fact the mischievous imp, Puck, looked quite demonic throughout, particularly when he acted, in human form as manservant to Theseus.
The fairy kingdom looked like some sort of new age travellers’ camp with everyone garbed in tatty grey, dirt and dreads while the mortal world was inhabited by a group of eccentrics that turned a light-hearted comedy into a full blown farce.
I’m hugely impressed with the productions the R & D has delivered in recent years - and it has rightly won a string of awards - but perhaps they were over-reaching themselves with a Shakespeare.
The Dream runs on the Royal stage until May 11.