A Midsummer Night's Dream

Synopsis

On a midsummer's night Hermia and her lover Lysander flee from Athens and Demetrius - the man Hermia's father favours as a son-in-law. Demetrius follows, pursued by Helena who loves him in spite of being spurned in favour of Hermia. On the same night Bottom and his friends leave Athens to find somewhere quiet to rehearse their play which is to be performed at the wedding feast of Duke Theseus. Drawn into the woods they enter a world of magic, mystery and wonder.

Our Review:

12 June 2006

With a fine sense of timing, the summer arrived for the opening of the Regent’s Park Dream: if it had been held earlier in the week, then Titania’s speech on the seasons getting muddled would have raised some rueful smiles from the shivering audience.

Productions of this play at Regent’s Park have always been audience–friendly; the focus has been very much on entertainment rather than any deeper interpretation of the sexuality or the darker themes of the play. This revival of Ian Talbot’s 2004 production is no exception: in fact, if anything this year’s version is even more of a romp than its predecessor. The sexual innuendo in the play (and there’s a lot) is skated over and the sexuality of the young lovers is certainly underplayed.

Set in the Edwardian court of Theseus (for some unspecified reason, the mechanicals are waiting around while Theseus gives his nuptials speech), the rivals for Hermia’s affections are presented in contrasting ways: [Simo...

Read more of the review

Latest User Review

No reviews yet

Click here to add your review