Director Peter Evans’ new production of A Midsummer Night’s Dream, staged by Bell Shakespeare, is small and delightful. In its limited cast and humble mise en scene, the play manages a refreshing take on an exhaustively staged Shakespeare classic.
In this production, Peter Evans lets the script’s comic characters shine. Rather than hopping on the (now) packed bandwagon of proliferating the darkly lustful, fantastical, perverted elements of the play, Evan rather spotlights its light-hearted joy.
This is largely due to his impressively original casting choices. Oberon (Richard Pyros), rather than a macho, hulking figure, is transformed into a weaselly, mischievous bleached-blonde twin of Puck. Isabel Burton’s Helena is not merely pathetically lovelorn, but rather newly hilarious and cynical, sympathetic even in her worst moments. The casting of the short Ahunim Abebe to play Hermia ensured that every “dwarf” joke about her height landed—a casting choice which showed keen attention to the intricacies of the play’s humour.
The limited cast and prominent double-casting could be confusing at times—I had to explain who was playing who to my friend during intermission. However, it also ensured a quick familiarity with the ensemble, and a feeling of affectionate closeness between the cast and audience.
As with most productions of A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Bottom (Matu Ngaropo) became an automatic audience favourite. By the penultimate scene of the acting troupe’s performance, Ngaropo had us wrapped around his finger. Even single gestures, such as flicking his hair to the side, would leave the room in stitches.
On the other hand, with the detailed focus on the comic aspects of the play, the fantastical and borderline dramatic elements were significantly watered down. Choreography (by movement, intimacy and fight director Nigel Poulton) was stylised and practised. This rendered high-pressure, tensioned moments, such as the fights between Hermia, Helena, Demetrius and Lysander, disappointingly tempered and low stakes. Even the uncomfortably lustful relationship between Titania and Bottom as the donkey seemed sexless—it seemed like the characters were not really touching each other, even when they were. Perhaps the light-hearted tone of the production usurped the passion, the (for lack of better words) essential horniness of A Midsummer Night’s Dream.
The set design (Teresa Negroponte) was creative in its bareness, with a large amalgamation of chairs and desks backgrounding the play, wherein characters lounged sensually or disappeared in and out of the forest. Negroponte’s costume design spoke to her musical theater and film and television background, with pastel, 1950s-esque twee fashion freshening up the dark browns of the stage and modernising the play’s setting as a whole. The lighting, from lighting designer Benjamin Cisterne, worked seamlessly with the set design, with pastel, precisely choreographed lighting providing striking and surprisingly beautiful visuals.
Ultimately, Peter Evans’s production of A Midsummer Night’s Dream proved that there is still potential for Shakespeare to be reinvented and freshened.