A Midsummer Night's Dream

A Midsummer Night’s Dream is a romantic comedy by William Shakespeare, set in and around Athens.  It proves to be very popular on the theatre circuit, with this production marking the fourth version I’ve seen of it in 12 months! This time, it was the turn of RATS to bring this classic to life and they certainly did that! 

I received the (now customary) warm welcome from RATS chairman, Dan Collier-Roberts and as always, it was great to chat all aspects of theatre.

I was impressed with the thought that had gone into the staging of this play.  Rhiwbina Memorial Hall is a small venue with limited playing space and so I am always interested to see how the society gets round this.  For this production, the society had designed and built freestanding triangular columns, (think about a Toblerone stood on its end and you won’t be far away!)  The three sides each depicted a different part of the area and they were well marshalled by cast and crew to make the production flow with great pace throughout.

Director, Anthony Cannon-Jones had assembled a very strong cast of performers for this play, most of whom I’ve seen in previous RATS productions.  The cast worked really well together to produce an excellent show.

There was something mesmerising about Steven Smith as Puck.  His characterisations and mannerisms were brilliant and you heard every word he said throughout. 

Steven Lurvey and Melanie McLeod formed a great double act as Oberon and Titania.  I enjoyed their performances that were full of energy and enthusiasm.

As Hermia, Poppy Charles gave a lovely performance.  I really liked the way she played this character and she had excellent facial expressions to match!

Aled Jones-Pritchard was impressive as Lysander.  A strong performance with very clear diction.

As Helena and Demitrius, Helen Ward and Catrin McCarthy both did a lovely job.  Their characters suited their roles and once again, speech was very clear.

Niamh Keoghan was full of life as Peter Quince and Niamh really led the band of misfit actors well.  A performance filled with humour, well played.

As Nick Bottom/Pyramus, Tracey Coleman gave a simply wonderful performance.  In a word, hilarious.  Everyone in the audience appreciated Tracey’s portrayal and I send my heartfelt congratulations.  A performance to be proud of.

Other named characters all added to the production with energy and humour throughout.  A special shout out to Bethan Horwood who seemed to have a different costume on every five minutes!  A performance full of hard work and dedication!

This really was an excellent production.  Shakespeare’s works can sometimes be difficult to understand and feel very long but thanks to some clever language updates and great direction, couple with a very strong cast, this particular version was easy to understand and went by in a flash!

Congratulations RATS and thanks for a lovely evening!

 

The views in this report are solely of the author.

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