A Midsummer Night's Dream

After a break of 10 years director Rhona Mitchell has revived her production of Shakespeare’s comedic play. With it’s rich tapestry of humour, romance and fantasy it allows the members of this group to display all their talents – acting, singing and dancing – perfectly. Some changes have been made such as The Mechanicals “spikin’” in the local Doric dialect which added greatly to the humour of the play within a play and also changing the sex of Lysander to a female Lysandra thus putting a different spin on the relationship with Hermia. Russell Dudley gave a commanding performance whether as Duke Theseus or as Oberon, King of the Fairies his stillness contrasting well with the chaos around him. Imogen Watt as his wives Hippolyta and Titania, Queen of the Fairies was excellent portraying equally well the former’s stern characteristics and the latter’s joy-de-vivre. Her interactions with Cameron Lawson’s Bottom (Pyramus in the Interlude) were hilarious and had the audience laughing out loud. Comedy appears to Cameron’s forte and full advantage was taken of his talents in this role in the delivery of his dialogue, his facial expressions and his physical comedy. Another who added much to the humour in the piece was Peter May in the dual roles of Philostrate,Theseus’s Master of the Revels and Puck, Oberon’s Lieutenant - especially in the latter role as he gambolled about the stage getting up to mischief. The star-crossed lovers Hermia (Lola Brown), Lysandra (Eleri Blane), Helena (Holly Thomson) and Demetrius (Mika Drummond) all gave very strong performances. The physical fights between the four characters in Act 2 were very well choreographed. Strong support was given by Isla MacGillivray-Kinnaird (Quince, Director of the Interlude), Evan Ansell (Flute, Thisby in the Interlude), Iris Leonard (Starveling, Moonshine in the Interlude), Anna Young (Snout,Wall in the Interlude),Carly Ferguson (Snug, Lion in the Interlude), Bella Middleton (Changeling Child) and Stewart Aitken (Egeus, Father of Hermia). Tatiana’s retinue of 8 Fairies all danced and played their characters well. Liz Cork’s costuming was as usual spot on for the characters - in black and white for the court scenes and a riot of colour in the forest scenes – Titania’s green gown was spectacular. The set was simple – a set of stepped rostra on each side of the stage – with good use being made of the different levels. Titania’s bower was impressive backed by fairy wings magically changing colour. The snatches of music provided by Alisdair Sneden and Nikolas Georgopoulos were appropriate and fitted seamlessly into the narrative. Well done everyone on delivering great performances and much admiration on delivering Shakespeare’s tricky dialogue so faultlessly.

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