Reader Reviews
A Midsummer Night's Dream (Royal Shakespeare Theatre, Stratford-Upon-Avon)
Back to Show Details| Score | Comment | Date |
 | I think the person who wrote this review should retire and never write again. It was an awesome play! I enjoyed every second and It was well done. There are some people who's favorite play is Midsummer Night's Dream thank you. What your favorite is shouldn't show through on your review, and I think you need to be more objective in your approach. Oberon and Titania did a superb job and well as the 'repair crew' one of which became the donkey. - Autumn Garrett | 04 Jun 12 |
| I agree entirely with the review. I would add that the theatre is also a disppointment, we had expensive seats in the stalls and found our view obscured by the row in front and the actors and scenery. It takes courage for a reviewer to differ from the masses. I found it all rather obvious and a bit emperor's new clothes - Donna | 28 Sep 11 |
| I loved this play so much and left feeling as if I had enjoyed the best theatre going experience of my life. I laughed, I cried, I was moved. I thought it silly, glorious, emotional, magnificent. Seems I am not alone. - Judith | 26 Sep 11 |
| A bit of a mess - I enjoyed Meckler's treatment of the court scenes but too much of the mechanicals' humour was tiresomely forced. And thank goodness I know the play well enough to understand what the incredibly mannered Lucy Briggs-Owen was saying (her performances in "The City Madam" and "Cardenio" are almost as bad). - J D Atkinson | 24 Sep 11 |
| I, being a teenager, have a tendency to think "Shakespeare - run away screaming!" Maybe it’s the Shakespearian language used to make everything seem like a riddle, who knows, Shakespeare always seems like a no-go area to me. However as I am in the middle of my English Literature A-level and in the middle of studying a Shakespeare text, I thought it would be worth while taking a trip to see A midsummer’s nights dream. In my opinion Meckler’s interpretation of the comedy was absolutely amazing! The idea of the chairs in the fairy scenes was so creative and the use of them was absolutely brilliant! In parts I couldn't help but laugh uncontrollably - especially at Helena and Bottom! The actors’ talent was just completely out of this world and I cannot wait until I have another opportunity to visit Stratford and watch another play. The experience completely changed my view of Shakespeare and has definitely helped me with my schoolwork. To be honest five stars really isn’t enough and I really don’t know if those who gave less than at least 4 went and saw the same play because I loved it!! - Jemma Willson | 22 Sep 11 |
| good show, silver lipped fairy (Lanre Malaolu) was hilarious :) - manny | 08 Sep 11 |
| Poor Simon, must be wondering why he got it so wrong compared with every other broadsheet critic in the country. Of course the direction is stunning, profound, wise and drawing out so much from the text and ensuring the play is actually funny. I usually dread the boredom of the mechanicals - this time genuinly moving and hysterically funny. Complete strangers along the row I was in were weeping with laughter. An inspirational night and the lovers acrobats matched those of Brook's Dream. This really was the one to see for a generation new to what great Shakespearean Comedy can do. If you can possibly get tickets (unlikely now) go and see this. Oh and a wonderful "cool" Puck who understood the use of wit and held the audience enraptured as he "restored amends".A triumph. - Sarah | 08 Sep 11 |
| Simon, you have got it bang on. This was definitely the most awful production I have ever seen of this delightful play. It is an utter mess from beginning to end. - Neal | 30 Aug 11 |
| Wake up Simon, the best production I have seen at Stratford. Fine acting and everyone left the theatre having thoroughly enjoyed the performance. Lucy Briggs-Owen as Helena is terrific. - John Bezant | 11 Aug 11 |
| This was a decent production with many very good performances.After thoroughly enjoying Meckler's "Comedy Of Errors",I was disappointed in the lack of magic ;we all have different ideas as to how this magic can be conveyed but for me , this show does not start to compare with the Edward Hall "Propellar" production or the mind blowing Peter Brook's in the 60s. It often seemed to be playing for laughs which became more noticeable when the laughs came naturally eg the best Lion I have ever seen.Would recommend if you have not seen the play before. - MauriceC | 11 Aug 11 |
| The beautiful poetry of this wonderful play was missing as was any coherent concept of the magic and a sense of the woods transforming everyone into something through dream to a new reality. Some appallingly inept performances. This is a low point for the RSC - michael | 10 Aug 11 |
| Enchanting production in my view - a feast for the eyes. I have always tended to prefer the tragedies but this has almost converted me. Oberon/Theseus and Helena - superb performances, the mechanicals rib-tickling. Agree with other comments that this is just what Shakespeare intended and he did not write for the snobbish elite. I'll admit it took me time to realise this when I was younger and was a bit of a culture snob myself, but these days I just lap it up in all its bawdy glory, big sausages et al. Different times and settings adopted by directors only reinforce the universality of the messages. So many happy faces, of all ages, leaving the theatre are the only review needed. - Maggie | 08 Aug 11 |
| I was also at the matinee on Saturday and agree totally with the previous reviewer's reaction to Simon Tavener's review, although I didn't see a standing ovation from where I was sitting. I thought the interpretation of the play was refreshing and all the characters were well potrayed but the outstanding performance was definitely Lucy Briggs-Owen as Helena. My only criticism was that the play should have been 15 minutes shorter and, although the final 'play within a play' was very popular with the audience, it was a bit too slapstick for my tste. Otherwise I would defintely have given the production 5 stars! - Ann | 08 Aug 11 |
| What an unprofessional, sneering, superior review. As another reviewer has said, Shakespeare wrote for the audience in the house at the time: The - full-house - Saturday matinee people fell about, and then gave this production a standing ovation. Critics seeking "art" should go elsewhere (and re-train to understand why a great playwright writes a play). Taverner is out of line. No mention of Lucy Briggs-Owen, the most characterful Helen I have ever seen - and "Wall" was magnificent, if probably seriously injured... The concept of transformation, culminating in the sensuous change from Oberon/Titania to Theseus/Hypollita was outstandingly original and satisfying. We laughed, we cheered, we applauded. - Brian Stone | 07 Aug 11 |
| Having read a number of reviews, this is the one that most accurately sums up the performance I saw. Lack of coherence, visual over-stimulation that overwhelms attempts to perform the text. Nondescript Puck too. But the ensemble playing of the mechanicals does to some degree rescue the performance with some very funny business. Some excellent choreographed sequences. - Kris Lee | 07 Aug 11 |
| I'm in pretty much complete agreement with Simon Tavener. I went to the the production with high expectations but found the comic elements in particular to be too often bludgeoned home or unnecessarily extended rather than being allowed to progress more naturally. The quality of acting was universally excellent, but the direction unfortunately left quite a lot to be desired. - Guy Cavendish | 07 Aug 11 |
| Sorry, my comment below was rather grumpy but I can't find a way to delete it. There are many good things in the show but I preferred Greg Doran's production three years ago. Mind you, I preferred Greg Doran's Antony And Cleopatra and his Macbeth to recent RSC productions so that's just me. - Andrew Cowie | 06 Aug 11 |
| I disagree that there is no unifying concept, there is, the dream in the title is Hippolyta's and everyone she meets in Theseus's court reappears in her dream, a bit like The Wizard Of Oz. I agree though that it is a bleak, dour and humourless production. The chairs and gobos design looks cheap and dated, the relationships count for nothing and the comedy is forced. I'd add Dunsinane to your list of RSC hits but this is a dud. - Andrew Cowie | 06 Aug 11 |
| .ri .G fI I often wonder what sort of person makes a critic... Unlike this 'critic', I paid for my tickets, went in looking forward to my first ever Shakespeare play and left at the end having had a most wonderful evening. I suppose that the players need a pompous ass,, they need look no further. If you get a ticket snap it up. - J. Cunningham | 05 Aug 11 |
| Hmm! Do you think someone should have mentioned to Simon that everyone else was going to think this is the finest Midsummer Night's Dream of our generation? He's a wee bit out of his depth on this website. It's mould-breaking, moving and hilarious. - Peter | 05 Aug 11 |
| Sigh. You can never trust a review that beings with: this is "not my favourite Shakespeare play." How unfortunate that the high-brow, elitist sentiment prevails that Shakespeare should be a cultural experience. I wonder what the Bard would think; hardly the audience the play was written for. This production captures the true nature of the script in all of its thigh-slapping glory. I know the script well and I have never laughed so hard. And, no offense to Ms. Nixon, but Ms. Briggs-Owen's Helena stole the show. In addition, it is rare for Oberon to be so well-played as to not have the stage stolen by the beloved Puck. But Mr. Stone-Fewings's Oberon commands the entire production as well the character should. As for the chairs, what a creative way to keep the audience off balance, always reminded that things are just not what they should be. It is sad that Simon chose not to be entertained. This fresh, energetic production is a roaring good time. - Katherine | 05 Aug 11 |
