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For me, nothing in the world can top Othello; I have a real soft-spot for King Lear; and I adore Twelfth Night. I'll watch any adaption, be it in the theatre, on the television or at the cinema. I wish I could have seen Othello at the National more than once as it was utterly sensational, and equally I'll never tire of watching Baz Luhrmann's Romeo and Juliet or all four history plays in the BBC's The Hollow Crown (a DVD at the top of my Christmas wish list…).
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I am by no means an expert on Shakespeare, but enough of a fan to be willing to see anything, with the odds being rather high that even if it's not to my liking I'll still enjoy it. They're timeless plays with messages and themes and connections that echo across the centuries. In my eyes, reading something written 400 years ago that's still relevant and has an unwavering place in contemporary society is rather special.
[IMAGE SOURCED FROM www.bbc.co.uk]
I've already blogged about the Michael Grandage Company's season of 5 plays at the Nöel Coward Theatre when I saw The Cripple of Inishmaan a few months ago, and that experience alone was enough to make me look into the remaining 2 plays. I can be a total snob when it comes to seats at the theatre and would rather pay more for a decent seat, but took a chance with my friend and we booked the £10 tickets to see A Midsummer Night's Dream. It's such a fantastic concept for theatre audiences that I knew it was worth a try. Honestly: it was totally worth it. Yes, the stage was miles away and there were sections of the set we just couldn't see due to the angle, but when all's said and done we were able to spend an evening watching a Shakespeare play for a fraction of the price we would have to pay normally. As far as I'm concerned, there's nothing wrong with that.
Christopher Oram had transformed Shakespeare’s magical forest into an abandoned manor house illuminated by the backdrop of a waning moon in Michael Grandage’s adaptation of A Midsummer Night’s Dream. Split between both the human and magical worlds, love at first sight proves to be a blessing for some and makes a fool of others in this complex and intricate tale. Lysander loves Hermia and Hermia loves Lysander. Helena loves Demetrius but Demetrius now loves Hermia. When Hermia's father insists she choose Demetrius she escapes into the magical forest with Lysander where the King and Queen of the Faeries, Oberon and Titania, are having their own battle of love. The two worlds collide and chaos – predictably – ensues.
One of the most famous elements of the play is the mischievous faeries and their exotic and sultry Queen, Titania. Throughout all the different incarnations and interpretations of the play over the years the faeries have differed enormously, with Grandage choosing to depict them this time as ‘60s-style pot-smoking hippies, indulging in bouts of tribal dancing. The costumes were, however, disappointing as the abundance of feathers and bizarre mix of styles made them appear a little tacky and incongruent to the rest of the play. Although it was obvious the faeries were intended to be erotic and hedonistic, the whole effect fell flat and never quite lived up to the expectation. Combined with an unimpressive Oberon (Padraic Delaney) the faeries were generally a disappointment, only improving with the addition of scenes with Walliams’s Bottom.
Much has to be said of David Walliams’ Bottom, which – although almost to be expected – was the stand out performance of the evening. He was on safe ground relishing in comedic scenes that allowed him to connect with the audience, particularly excelling as the unwilling to depart Roman-costume clad Pyramus in the play-within-a-play. Walliams seemed equally at home surrounded by the faeries and smoking a joint, lavishing in the attention of Titania. Sheridan Smith wasn’t performing when I saw the show, so was faced with her understudy (Rachel Barry) who despite giving a convincing performance didn’t exude the sultry charm that Smith has been praised for.
The highlight of the show was undoubtedly the woodland quarrel between the quartet of lovers, who are reduced to their gleaming white underwear as chaos descends. While the two male lovers appear spookily similar in appearance, Susannah Fielding's Hermia and Katherine Kingsley’s Helena are the perfect opposites in both physicality and temperament. Their fast-paced dialogue was a joy to behold, and the passionate scene was a prime example of how well Shakespeare wrote for women.
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Overall, it was a good performance and most importantly fitted well within the season of plays. However, it relied too heavily on the star power of Walliams and Smith, had an odd mismatch of costumes, and disappointing faery scenes. It was well worth seeing a West End show for the price, and there are worse things than spending the evening watching Shakespeare. "The course of true love never did run smooth" - it’s just a shame this course was so tame and didn’t match the glowing reviews.
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