The Upcoming
  • Cinema & Tv
    • Movie reviews
    • Film festivals
      • Berlin
      • Tribeca
      • Sundance London
      • Cannes
      • Locarno
      • Venice
      • London
      • Toronto
    • Show reviews
  • Music
    • Live music
  • Food & Drinks
    • News & Features
    • Restaurant & bar reviews
    • Interviews & Recipes
  • Theatre
  • Art
  • Travel & Lifestyle
  • Literature
  • Fashion & Beauty
    • Accessories
    • Beauty
    • News & Features
    • Shopping & Trends
    • Tips & How-tos
    • Fashion weeks
      • London Fashion Week
      • London Fashion Week Men’s
      • New York Fashion Week
      • Milan Fashion Week
      • Paris Fashion Week
      • Haute Couture
  • Join us
    • Editorial unit
    • Our writers
    • Join the team
    • Join the mailing list
    • Support us
    • Contact us
  • Competitions
  • Facebook

  • Twitter

  • Instagram

  • YouTube

  • RSS

CultureTheatre

A Midsummer Night’s Dream at Shakespeare’s Globe

A Midsummer Night’s Dream at Shakespeare’s Globe | Theatre review
1 June 2013
Tom Yates
Avatar
Tom Yates
1 June 2013

One of Shakespeare’s earliest and most popular comedies recently began a new run at Shakespeare’s Globe. This unassuming production plays down the darker side of the play’s carnal dalliances and ramps up the laughs instead.

The stage design is kept wonderfully simple: most of the action is restricted to the forest that sees the stage adorned modestly with a few logs. This production is listed as employing Renaissance costumes, which are initially gorgeous but quickly redundant, due to the narrative instructing the performers to be either caked in mud or topless. 

Naturally, the acting is superb across the board, with each performer bringing the requisite emotional intensity to make their respective roles work. Lysander (Luke Thompson) and Demetrius (Josh Silver) both have enough goofiness about them that their fervent and forceful lust for the alternating target of their affection remains amusing and never uncomfortable. Their opposite numbers, Olivia Ross as Hermia and Sarah MacRae as Helena, also make an impression, with the latter in particular producing an effective performance that evokes sympathy. It is her character that arguably goes through the most dramatic of arcs, as she has to experience three reversing relationships. 

John Light’s vocal is suitably resonant and brings a commanding presence to the roles of Theseus & Oberon. Olivier Award winner Michelle Terry also brings a palpable strength to her roles as Amazonian Queen Hippolyta and as Titania, while the youthful Matthew Tennyson impresses as Puck, prancing around the stage.

However, the real joy to be had in this production comes from Pearce Quigley: blessed with impeccable comedic timing, his turn as Nick Bottom (aka the one who becomes a donkey) is one of pure hilarity. His wordless reaction to the legendary moment when Titania falls for him as a mule is priceless and had the audience in fits of laughter. 

But the night’s most memorable and enjoyable moment is the fifth act of Pyramus and Thisbe, as performed by the mechanicals. The play-within-a-play in which Bottom and his incompetent acting troupe entertain the couples is a comedic tour de force. After the mini makeshift stage is brought out and the cast clambers upon it, a dead dog, a weak floorboard and the “Walls chink” are played out to gloriously absurd effect.

★★★★★

Tom Yates
Photos: John Haynes

A Midsummer Night’s Dream is on at Shakespeare’s Globe until 12th October 2013. For further information or to book visit the theatre’s website here.

Watch the trailer for Shakespeare’s Globe Theatre: 2013 Season of Plenty here:

Related Itemsreview

More in Theatre

Evelyn at Southwark Playhouse

★★★★★
Jim Compton-Hall
Read More

Fantastically Great Women Who Changed the World at Theatre Royal Stratford East

★★★★★
Natallia Pearmain
Read More

King Lear at Shakespeare’s Globe

★★★★★
Michael Higgs
Read More

This Is Not Who I Am/Rapture at the Royal Court Theatre

★★★★★
Jessica Wall
Read More

“Flamenco is a race where there is no end – you never stop learning”: An interview with Manuel Liñán on ¡Viva! at the Sadler’s Wells Flamenco Festival 2022

Jessica Wall
Read More

Jitney at the Old Vic

★★★★★
Jonathan Marshall
Read More

“The fact a play as relevant as Jitney is not known outside of the US is criminal”: An interview with Sule Rimi on starring in August Wilson’s Jitney at the Old Vic

Jonathan Marshall
Read More

The Car Man at the Royal Albert Hall

★★★★★
Jim Compton-Hall
Read More

Ben Delacreme Is… Ready to Be Committed at Leicester Square Theatre

★★★★★
Jonathan Marshall
Read More
Scroll for more
Tap
  • Popular

  • Latest

  • TOP PICKS

  • Ed Sheeran at Wembley Stadium
    ★★★★★
    Live music
  • Eagles bring a nostalgia-laden evening to the BST Festival in Hyde Park
    ★★★★★
    Live music
  • Africa Fashion at the V&A
    ★★★★★
    Art
  • “He used to spit at the audience, roll on the ground, he did, in fact, hump that plastic dog – he was the original punk rocker”: Baz Luhrman, Tom Hanks, Austin Butler, Olivia DeJonge and Alton Mason on Elvis
    Cinema & Tv
  • Tigers
    ★★★★★
    Movie review
  • The Terminal List
    ★★★★★
    amazon
  • Baymax!
    ★★★★★
    disney
  • Parisian bar Little Red Door to take over Adam Handling’s Eve Bar on 7 July
    Food & Drinks
  • Netflix Walking Tour
    ★★★★★
    Cinema & Tv
  • Chelsea Flower Show 2022: Greenery and wellbeing
    Fashion & Lifestyle
  • Netflix Walking Tour
    ★★★★★
    Cinema & Tv
  • Africa Fashion at the V&A
    ★★★★★
    Art
  • Minions: The Rise of Gru
    ★★★★★
    Movie review
  • The Rollings Stones give Glasto a run for its money at BST Festival in Hyde Park
    ★★★★★
    Live music
  • “He used to spit at the audience, roll on the ground, he did, in fact, hump that plastic dog – he was the original punk rocker”: Baz Luhrman, Tom Hanks, Austin Butler, Olivia DeJonge and Alton Mason on Elvis
    Cinema & Tv
The Upcoming
Pages
  • Contact us
  • Join mailing list
  • Join us
  • Our London food map
  • Our writers
  • Support us
  • What, when, why
With the support from:
International driving license

Copyright © 2011-2020 FL Media

A Haunted House | Movie review
Play | Movie review