A Midsummer Night's Dream at Chichester Festival Theatre | Review
As the summer comes to an end, so does the season at the Festival Theatre with, what is probably, Shakespeare's most popular play.
A Midsummer Night's Dream is such a flexible play, open to wild interpretations (and, from time-to-time, wild misinterpretations!) and Justin Audibert and Hannah Joss's production for the Festival is nothing if not brilliantly creative.
This version is moved from the Athens of the original to the Chichester and surrounding areas of the 1990s and the local audience clearly loved every reference to this.
The production is drenched in rave-culture, with an ensemble of rave dancers punctuating the action. There is also a seasoning of 1990s' Conservativism – indeed, a portrait of Maggie Thatcher comes in for some abuse, much to the joy of some older members of the audience.
I wasn't certain about this at the beginning; there seems, oftentimes in theatre, to be a sense of doing something just for the gimmick of it. Sometimes this works, sometimes it fails. Now – although I can see no earthly reason for this 90s' path in the context of Shakespeare's story – it does work here. It gives an angle.
Particularly pleasing is the reworking of Theseus (Tom Kanji) and Hippolyta (Celeste Dodwell) as a pair of Tory politicians. Indeed, for one joyous moment at the start of the show, I thought Dodwell might actually be about to give us her Maggie. Sadly, not so!
The four lovers, Demetrius, Helena, Hermia and Lysanda (changed to a woman, here, from Shakespeare's original) did not, for me, hit the ground running. I'm guessing youth and a lack of Shakespearean experience may well have been responsible for this – there were some odd inflections, some non-observance of enjambed lines, some unawareness of meaning – and I was not convinced.
The four actors – Angela Sant'Albano, Ellie Larkin, Kieran Taylor-Ford and Freya Parks – changed my opinion in the second half. The scene where the four of them, under Oberon's spell, desperately declare love and hatred for one anoth-er was just brilliantly directed and brilliantly played.
There was nice stuff, too, from Munya Chawawa as Bottom – particularly when ass-headed – and Kishore Walker as the put-upon Flute. The Mechanicals’ play, too, was sheer brilliance.
David Sturzaker's Oberon doubles as the rave DJ; he plays the music the others dance to – effectively Oberon's urge for revenge on Titania that spurs the action on. Shane David-Joseph's Puck was interestingly antagonistic to Oberon; ordinarily Puck is subservient to the power of Oberon. These moments of rebelliousness add nice little layers of powerplay.
But the show, in my opinion, belongs to the superb Titania of Eve Ponsonby. She is wild, base, sexual and strong – and superbly funny. Her quick freshen-up, before going in to seduce Bottom, was so wildly unexpected and un-Shakespearean that I spluttered my appreciation over the row in front of me. Apologies if that was you.
This particular production would also work as a nice introduction to Shakespeare for your teens as well as being a kick up the backside for any jaded fans of the Bard.
It's not here for long – so make the most!
Until October 17.