A Midsummer Night's Dream

A balmy evening in June, a large, open, gently sloping field surrounded by a beautiful but appropriately eerie wood and the stage was set for a glorious evening’s entertainment with one of The Bard’s most popular comedies.  Lucky of course with the dry weather, this being England, but oh boy, did BATS rise to the occasion and take full advantage of all those factors coming together. And this wasn’t even their original venue, for reasons beyond their control, they were forced to find a new one at fairly short notice. Well, they certainly fell on their feet there!

However, Bedfordshire Growers provided this beautiful setting, but it was several hundred yards from the nearest power source, which does present its own problems, as it all has to be setup from scratch. And again, what a super job the technical team did of that in the hands of very experienced Dave Maltby and his crew. Lighting was very cleverly laid at ground level which as the evening drew in and darkness gradually descended really did turn the whole set and wooded background into a magical eerie place. Perfect!

Unfortunately, the same could not be said of the sound, which had quite a few breakdowns of radio mics, which kept fading in and out. In fairness it didn’t really affect me as being in the front row I could quite clearly hear the dialogue even with my aging ears. The actors certainly stepped up to the mark with their projection, but I did wonder if such clarity reached the back row? However, moving swiftly on, we have all been there with those pesky face mics.

The set itself was cleverly divided into various acting spaces with two large, very well florally decorated wood trellises centre stage rear, which gave the actors their entrances and exits to the wood whilst hidden from the audience. Another set of trellises to stage right, decorated in gauze and a floral streamer, with a large urn at either end gave us the Dukes residence. Stage right gave us the sumptuous setting with chaise for various scenes including the comical love scene between the donkey headed Bottom and an under a spell Titania. A couple of small metal arches, decorated with bottles hanging in lace netting to either side and a large tree trunk propped up on a log completed the set. Very atmospheric; well done.

Costumes by Sarah Bailey, a lady of some considerable talent (she also played Oberon) were absolutely amazing, especially the ladies whose medieval dresses and blouses all added to the ambience of the evening. Even medieval style shirts for the men worn with modern Levi’s worked well. Makeup was another area that added to the ambience. Uncredited in the programme I can only assume it was team effort, but the fairies were stunningly well made up with Oberon and Puck leading the way.  The black band across Oberon’s and Puck’s eyes for example were a work of art, an image that will stick with me for a long time to come. The various props that adorned the set were supplied by Catherine Goodman and the set was dressed by Sarah Bailey assisted by Jessie Fox.

The first thing to say about the acting is that bearing in mind in Shakespeare’s day all female parts were played by men or boys, this was the first time I’d seen it played almost gender neutral. Egeus, Oberon, Puck, Bottom, Quince and Snug all being played by ladies. And I have to say with a few tweaks of the script it worked perfectly!

The four lovers, Matthew Evans (Demetrius), Hannah Ridley (Helena), Ollie Elkin (Lysander) and Erin Watson (Hermia) really do know how to deliver a Shakespearian Script. The pauses, the nuances, the variation in tone and the facial expressions and the chemistry between them almost translated complicated medieval dialogue into everyday modern English before our eyes. You don’t often see it that well done by amateur groups.

David Gauge (Theseus), Paula Hill (Hippolyta, Queen of The Amazons) gave us regal presence in abundance and Caroline Brooks (Egeus) was the stern mother denying her daughter her true love and Toby Gardner (Philostrate) was the Master of Revels (which apparently later became the Office of The Lord Chamberlain.)

Our fairies were sublimely magical with a lot of mischief thrown in. The contrast between the stern upright Oberon played by Sarah Bailey, with her Guard being played Anja Konhauser, and the mainly crouching position adopted by Katrina Adams as Puck as she went about the business of mischief really stood out and defining them both perfectly. Our Queen of the Fairies, Titania played by Kerry Hewish certainly had us chuckling in the evening light in the classic scene where she falls in love with a donkey headed Bottom. Lovely little cameos from the youngsters Catlin Evans (Mustardseed), Evie Head (Cobweb) and Toby Gardner (Peaseblossom) completed our wonderfully magical fairies.

The mechanicals were led by the experienced Caroline Aldridge as Mistress Quince, with Kay Young, who could give master classes in comedic delivery, as Bottom, Jack Gardiner as Flute, the only man in this play actually playing a female part when he plays Thisbe in Pyramus & Thisbe, the play within a play performed at the wedding of Thesus & Hippolyta,  Deborah Humphreys as Snug, Russel Jones as Starveling and Kelvin West as Snout.

So well done to director Sarah Ridley and her assistants Hannah Ridley and Ollie Elkin, it really was a delightful evening’s entertainment. Very well directed and totally absorbing. Shame you only did the two performances, it deserved a much longer run. That said, the weather certainly helped and I hate to think what your plan was if it had been a wet field with all the lying down in the grass that went on, but let’s not worry about that.  I can best sum it up by saying my other half, not one of the Bard’s greatest fans, hasn’t stopped talking about it ever since. Praise doesn’t come higher than that!

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