Swish of the Curtain

I have been to see several productions of Shakespeare’s ‘A Midsummer Night’s Dream’. Instead of writing separate reviews for each of them, I decided to do one article contrasting and sharing my opinions about the different adaptions.

‘A Midsummer Night’s Dream’ is a tale with three stories. First, there are the unhappy lovers: Hermia, Lysander, Helena and Demetrius. Both Lysander and Demetrius are besotted with Hermia. Hermia loves Lysander and her best friend, Helena, loves Demetrius. Unfortunately for both ladies, Hermia’s father has threatened to have Hermia executed if she does not agree to marry Demetrius. Desperately upset, Hermia and Lysander hatch a plot to flee from Athens.  The second story is set in the depths of the forest, where Oberon and Titania, king and queen of the fairies, are arguing. Mischievous Puck, Oberon’s servant, is instructed to play a trick on Titania with a love potion that will ensure that she falls for the first thing she sees. The third story concerns a group of actors, led by a man called Bottom.  They are preparing a play for the Duke’s wedding. Helena and Demetrius follow Hermia and Lysander into the forest. The actors also head there to rehearse. That night, in these enchanted woods, the fairies, the lovers and the thespians get caught in a wonderful tangle.

This is one of my favourite of Shakespeare’s comedies. I love the magic and enchantment of the setting and the fact it takes place on the longest day of the year, the Summer Solstice.  Did you know that because the moon is often referred to in this play that astronomers have named the three moons of Uranus after Oberon, Titania and Puck?

The first time I saw this play was in a field in Worcestershire one evening two summers ago. The Athenian lovers were portrayed as gypsies and the backdrop was a beautifully painted, old, Romany caravan. Although the acting was a little amateur, there was something magical about watching night fall around the actors and hearing birds sing in the background.

In October 2013 I saw Michael Grandage’s production of ‘A Midsummer Night’s Dream’ at the Noel Coward Theatre, David Walliams acted Bottom. He was absolutely hilarious (especially in the ‘Lamentable Comedy of Pyramus and Thisbe’, he acted Pyramus and refused to die) and I really enjoyed this production. Although Walliams was excellent, I thought that it was a slightly odd that all the fairies were dressed like Sixties hippies with bell-bottom flares, long hair and pink John Lennon glasses. Instead of the fairies’ love potion, they used a mind-bending drug. Although the production was slightly mad, the play was fantastic and I couldn’t stop laughing.

Keen to visit the Globe Theatre, I went to see its production of ‘A Midsummer Night’s Dream’ this summer by Deafinitely Theatre.  The cast members themselves are deaf and they use British Sign Language to convey Shakespeare to people without hearing.  It was highly laudable.  I found it difficult to follow not only because I do not understand sign language and but also Puck said everybody’s lines so I could not tell who was speaking.  Also I found the setting slightly strange; the Athenian characters were dressed as office workers from a bank.

I have also seen the film made in 1999 in which Michelle Pfeiffer stars as Titania, Rupert Everett as Oberon and Kevin Kline as Puck. The film was traditionally set in the woods as night time fell and this, in my opinion, was better than the more modern settings. The casting was excellent. Titania was elegant, Oberon was powerful and Bottom was extremely funny. I really enjoyed this movie and would recommend it to everyone.