St Ivo School 2003 Production of
A Midsummer Night's Dream
November 24th - 26th 2003
Review of a Midsummer Night's Dream by Mr J Andrews
The challenge is a daunting one: on a dark November night in a large, dark, barn-like theatre to transport an audience into the warmth and delight of Shakespeare�s most delicate and evanescent comedy. The theatre was transformed by a green sward on the floor and the blackness of the walls was broken by a plethora of bright green leaves. The programmes themselves in pastel multi-coloured shades added their own touch. The opening of the play was especially skilful with the use of a glitter ball which threw a disorientating cascade of shapes around and around the theatre which along with some imaginatively chosen music completed the transformation and readied us to suspend our disbelief and enter the summer world of Athens.
"The Dream" is a popular choice for amateur theatricals and school plays and with the comedy of the mechanicals it�s easy to see why; but the play itself is not at all straightforward to bring off. There are several cast groups which need to be balanced and integrated, each with its own kind of reality. The commonest approach is to let the mechanicals take over and the play can become a crude romp. Much more difficult is to give value to each element of the play � the framing of the action through Hippolyta and Theseus, the lovers, and the fairy world of Puck, Oberon and Titania. Each needs to hold the attention in its own way. The fantasy is held together with a gossamer thread and the slightest awkwardness in cueing or blocking or weakness in delivery can break the spell and bring the whole thing down to earth.
Through some inspired direction from Amanda Crellin with support from Caroline Roberts and Nick Perry along with a quality of delivery from the cast that climbed way above the standard one could reasonably expect from amateurs, the production was wonderfully successful. There wasn�t a weak link and the teamwork was super. Theseus and Hippolyta open the action � they are often thankless roles in that they are the bedrock of the structure of the play but lack the magic poetry or the earthy comedy of the other cast groups. Nicola as Hippolyta had genuine stage presence and a beautiful way with Shakespeare�s language � its rhythms and pulse - which comes from an intelligent understanding of what Shakespeare is trying to achieve. Michael used energy and a dominating physique to fill his role � the scarlet hunting garb picking out his patrician quality very effectively.
The lovers, along with the father-figure Egeus, were just brilliant. Helena (Kayleigh) and Hermia were particularly fine. Sometimes Helena can become screechy and the knockabout comedy can crush the sense of pathos and sentiment that the lovers bring. Kayleigh avoided this, delivering the lines with poise and delicacy and the comic flytings with Hermia were superbly timed. The girls were differentiated skilfully and Hermia (Annie) brought real sweetness and tenderness to the part as well as a sense of brio to the physical comedy. Neither of the girls would have been so effective without the disciplined and well-focused support of Demetrius (Dale) and Lysander (Robbie) � both helped by good looks and touches of detail in the directing which brought real confidence to their performances.
The mechanicals were about as funny as any I�ve seen. Ricky was side-achingly good � just the right mix of baffled bumptiousness and pretention. He is a real actor: he loves the rapport with the audience and his timing and characterisation were utterly persuasive. The asses� head, by the way, � always a point of interest in any production of the "Dream" - was beautiful as well as grotesque. At the other extreme was "Wall" � Clare sporting a huge lump of moss on her head and carving a stolid and completely focused path for herself as the barrier to Pyramus and Thisbe. Karl as Flute was shyly affecting and Harriet�s boyish energy managed the cast of mechanicals well. The teamwork was the real strength � the way each mechanical played off the others, the variety in characterisation and the well-co-ordinated physical humour � all deeply impressive.
Finally, the world of the fairies, often the most difficult to bring off and if it fails to capture the imagination you lose the deepest poetry of the play. Here they were breathtaking. The make up was better than any I�d seen on the professional stage � disconcerting in the way it broke up the actors� faces but beautiful and mask-like - adding power to the sense of fantasy. The fairies were stunningly well used � flocking together like birds with one mind. One moment they processed with ballet-style poise through the audience bearing pillows, another time they arched their arms together like swimmers in a Busby Berkley extravaganza. The essence of the play � evanescence, diaphanous gossamer, ethereality � was captured completely in these fairies.
Oberon was masterful. Frank gave a great performance. His delivery was compelling and his stage presence was formidable. The only moment where I felt a glitch in terms of the balancing of the competing casts within the play was near the end where the lovers were engaged in a very funny nose-pulling, crutch-crushing scrap in the background whilst Oberon delivered one of his great speeches in the foreground and I felt the division of audience attention didn�t do justice to Oberon�s speech at that point � I could have listened to Frank all evening. Titania with astounding make-up and beautiful hair and costume was a worthy counterpart to Oberon. They made a genuinely impressive king and queen of the fairy kingdom.
And finally to Puck. Chani was an exquisite and touching Puck. Lots of physical detail in the performance brought out the humour delicately and effectively and Puck in effect held the whole thing together.
The two hours or so sped by as in a waking dream and when the fairy lights were blown out to end the performance we were delivered again to our sublunary world. In the meantime we had been held by greatness � fleeting and difficult to grasp but greatness of a real and important kind that left me aching for more.