A MIDSUMMER NIGHT'S DREAM

Blitzed! at the Brentwood Theatre

29.07.10

“Come, write me down, ye powers above …”

The old folk song was an appropriate opener to a play that harks back well beyond Shakespeare's time. The choice of music was one of the strengths of Neil Gray's pocket production - ”short as any dream”.

Lots of stylish touches – the white-faced fairies, led by elegant, if not always eloquent, Oberon [a mischievous interpretation from Darren Matthews, an impressive stage presence] and his Queen [Emma Feeney] with Dawn Cooke's un-gentle Puck boldly played as a sulky drudge. The lovers were nicely differentiated: Gemma Salter's sweet Hermia, with her backpack and her conventional boyfriend [a likeable Will Fox] against the painted maypole of Laura Hughes and her Demetrius [Matthew Jones] with his dubious dress sense. Their quarrel quartet was one of the strongest points of the show.

Neil Gray was a believable luvvie Weaver, leading his ragged troupe, tee-shirted for their interlude.

Theseus [Alex Muckersie] had a voice that was easy on the ear, but was one of the actors affected by memory losses in the last act. There were also occasional outbreaks of Random Stress Syndrome, but generally this trim, tightly staged treatment of Shakespeare's magical comedy made for a delightfully enjoyable evening.


photograph by Dawn Cooke