A Midsummer Night's Dream (again)

by William Shakespeare

seen by live streaming from the Bridge Theatre on 17 October 2019

Having so much enjoyed the production in August (see my review of 17 August 2019) I felt sure a second viewing in the cinema would not go amiss - this was actually a repeat of the original live streaming, also broadcast in August, as the production run has now finished.

It was a great pleasure to see this inventive and engaging production again. In this case, there were benefits to be gained from camera close-ups and varying points of view, though occasionally the editor's choices of shots were frustrating. But the pleasure of seeing some of the details in the performances of the actors more than outweighed the disadvantages of filming a live show. In particular, the roguishness of Puck, the gleeful pleasure Titania took in her machinations, and the besottedness of Oberon gained from a closer look at their facial expressions, while Theseus's initial intransigence was chillingly conveyed just by the intensity of his narrowed gaze at Hermia.

The hilarious comedy of Bottom especially among the Rude Mechanicals, and the weirdness of Puck, whose curling toes seemed to have a life of their own, were wonderfully in evidence in one of the great productions of this play.

A Midsummer Night's Dream

by William Shakespeare

seen at the Bridge Theatre on 17 August 2019

Nicholas Hytner directs Oliver Chris as Oberon and Theseus and Gwendoline Christie as Titania and Hippolyta in an inventive restaging of this perennially favourite play, with David Moorst as Puck and Hammed Animashaun as Bottom. The production is designed by Bunny Christie.

As with last year's production of Julius Caesar (reviewed on both 27 January and 27 March 2018) the Bridge has been transformed into a theatre in the round with a central pit area where audience members can stand and be moved around by stewards as various parts of the floor rise to become acting spaces. There is no need for a crowd as such in this play, so there is less immediate involvement than in the other play, but the mere presence of so many people 'in the way' underscores the confusions the mere mortals undergo as they enter the forest outside Athens.