A Midsummer Night's Dream

When Annie Evershed decided to start her own theatre company, she said the idea of putting on a play felt like a dream, a wonderful idea, but not yet a reality. Congratulations on your achievement Annie. It is my pleasure to welcome Amiable Theatre Company, and their very first production, to this wonderful world of amateur theatre. 

A Midsummer’s Night Dream is one of Shakespeare’s more well-known plays. A play of comedy, romance, fairies and amateur actor antics, makes it fun and one of his more accessible plays, particularly to an audience not over familiar with the work of the Bard. 

The play opens in Athens at the wedding of Thesus and Hippolyta. During this opening scene we are introduced to Egeus, a nobleman and father to Hermia.  As with many Shakespearian plays there is intrigue and confusion from the start. The plot takes the audience on a journey during which two young couples are unsuccessfully manipulated by fairies. Then to add to the chaos, another group of humans, the mechanicals, fall victim to the magical mayhem, with interesting consequences.  All ends well and we, the audience, are left satisfied with the story’s conclusion.

It was obvious the actors had a good understanding of the text and understood their roles within the play. The four young lovers Hermia, Lysander, Demetrius and Helena played by Olivia Seymour, Max Stewart, Joe Williams and Ruby Andrew had good energy between them and used the space effectively. Ruby gave a super performance during the scene in which Helena (Ruby) believes the others are mocking her. Equally the argument between the four actors was very well performed. All four of the young lovers spoke clearly with lovely diction. Well-done to you all. Egeus was played by Martin Gorst.  Although not on stage for a great length of time, Martin gave a confident and believable performance as the father to Hermia.

The Mechanicals led by Rita Quince (Sharon Shurmur) were funny and provided comical moments throughout.  Sharon gave a totally believable performance as Rita and had a good command of the script and her group of actors.  Tom Roberts presented a very entertaining portrayal of Nick Bottom.  I particularly liked his persistent badgering of Rita, as she allocated the roles within their play. John Brennan, playing Francis Flute, was hilarious in his objection to playing a woman. The depiction of the lovers, by Tom and John, in the final scene was fabulous!  Well-done to you both.                                              Ashley Williams mannerisms and facial expressions during his portrayal of the lion, raised many a chuckle from the audience.  Eddie Green as Tom Snout made a wonderful wall adding much humour to the piece.  Lori Hayes as Robyn Starveling performed beautifully throughout this piece.  Her character was consistent, with many small gestures and expressions that did not go un-noticed.

George Kelly, Sara Griffiths and Annie Evershed played the roles of the aristocrats Theseus, Hippolyta and Philostrate, as well as the fairies Oberon, Titania and Puck. The different styles of dress were very effective in differentiating between the roles. These characters all worked well together in both their human and fairy form.  Their depiction of the fairies brought humour and fantasy to the production, with a little seduction from Sara!  The frivolous movements and mannerisms of Oberon and Puck, contrasted beautifully with the seriousness of the youngsters whose lives they were disturbing.  George has a lovely, undulating tone to his voice that lends itself beautifully to the poetry of the piece.  Annie depicted Puck as cheeky and mischievous reciting Shakespeare’s words with affection, while Sara transferred from the aristocrat to the seductress with ease. These skilled actors had a good understanding of the text and delivered it with confidence making for an enjoyable audience experience.

The light orbs of the fairies, presented by Chloe Thomas, Davy Jones, Lucy Parry and Ashley Williams worked superbly and were controlled gracefully by the actors responsible for them.

The set was simple but very effective and with few additions suited both the court and the forest scenes. The sound effects and lighting were excellent throughout.  The use of Puck to ‘turn off the lights’ was a lovey moment. The directors use of the auditorium added another dimension to the production and offered an opportunity to involve the audience in the action.  There were occasions when it was difficult to hear a few of the characters however, this did not take away from the enjoyment of the performance.  The pace was good. The ending was terrific.  The final scene was entertaining and a pleasure to watch. Congratulations to Drew on his direction of Amiable Theatre’s first production

Amiable Theatre presented a very enjoyable evening of entertainment. The actors all played their characters well and delivered the dialogue in a way that was easy to understand.  A very accessible production of Shakespeare’s work.

Thank you for inviting me. I look forward to seeing what Amiable Theatre do next.

The views in this report are solely the opinion of the writer.

 

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