REVIEW: A Midsummer Night’s Dream at MAST Mayflower Studios

This week at MAST Mayflower Studios is The Everyman Theatre Company’s ‘A Midsummer Night’s Dream’. This is Shakespeare like you’ve never seen it before… and it’s just totally mental. Known as being Shakespeare’s silliest comedy, this retelling of his play is exactly that. Shakespeare is renowned for being long winded, for the use of Old English, and for being quite confusing. This play was two out of those three things. Old English? Yup. Confusing? Definitely. Long winded? Surprisingly no. Director Paul Milton has done a great job at condensing all of these intertwined story lines, whilst keeping the ‘heritage’ of Shakespeare as well as the attention of the audience. 

I’ve got to be honest and say that I didn’t have a clue about the story of this Shakespeare play. It was one that I never learnt about, so hadn’t bothered to read either. So, understandably, I was apprehensive that I wouldn’t understand the story as well as if I had done some research before hand. However I’ve left being able to confidently tell you the basics of this story – so it’s done its job!

They all had me laughing out loud.

The acting is meant to be fun, silly, and slapstick so you know exactly what to expect. As soon as the show started, I kept thinking that these gags may be a bit too silly for me. That was until I also found myself laughing at them a couple of minutes later. As a quick (very basic) synopsis, four Athenians travel to the forest only for chaos and comedy to collide, swapping lovers oh and there’s also a play involved (I’m sorry, I told you it was very basic!).

The cast were brilliant. As I mentioned, when the show first started I thought, oh god this is going to be too slapstick for me, but thanks to their performances they all had me laughing out loud. It was only a small cast, with 10 people all being multi-charactered actors. All of their movements and facial expressions, as well as their timing when performing their lines, made the use of old English so much easier to consume.

Paul Milton’s vision brought to fruition perfectly. Comedic timing was paramount to the success of these physical and spoken gags, and once again they were spot on. Jeremy Stockwell as ‘Puck’ and the clown Tweedy as ‘Bottom’ shared a fantastic bond on stage. A lot of the laughs came from these two – Tweedy’s brilliant slapstick comedy in particular. But I also need to give a quick shout out to Oliver Brooks (‘Lysander/Starvling/Moth’) and Laura Noble (‘Helena/Flute/Mustardseed’). These were the two that I laughed at the most especially in the play within the play at the end (more on this later). Oliver had me in literal tears in his portrayal of the moon. Just amazing! 

The set was actually beautifully crafted. There were only a few flats and it was very simple, but mixed with the coloured lighting it looked great. There’s not much else that can really be said from the set, but keep an eye out for a very realistic looking horse… 

It was also nice to hear an original song in there, showcasing the actors’ skillset yet again. Costumes were surprisingly detailed considering that they were being changed every 5 minutes. As for the LED gowns/dresses – they also fit right in!

This is truly a Shakespeare for everybody.

I’d be lying if I didn’t say that I was almost completely lost during act 1. I could follow along with roughly what was happening, and it was the comedy and silliness that allowed this. Without it, I think I’d still be scratching my head now. By act 2, everything fell into place and clicked. I instantly understood everything that was going on in act 1, and it felt like this huge payoff had come around. The play within the play, ‘Pyramus and Thisbe’, was hands down the highlight of the evening for me however. I was actually crying from laughter at times. If you’re looking for a laugh, look no further. 

To round up, yes this was confusing (temporarily), but it all became clear in the end. Was it fun? Without a doubt! Was it funny? Yes, hilarious. As soon as people see the name ‘William Shakespeare’ I think they panic and instantly get flashbacks back to school. I know I did! But I think what this production of ‘A Midsummer Night’s Dream’ has done is taken that stigma away from it. This is truly a Shakespeare for everybody. The aficionados and the novices. As one of my friends said, it’s basically the pantomime of Shakespeare, and I couldn’t agree more (thanks Steve!). ‘A Midsummer Night’s Dream’ is at MAST Mayflower Studios until Saturday and they then end their tour in Coventry afterwards. I wish all of the cast and crew the best of luck with the rest of their run.