A MIDSUMMER NIGHT'S DREAM (Custom/Practice & TEG Productions)
The Winter’s Tale would seem the appropriate Shakespearean
play to attend this week, while in the grip of another wintery blast. Yet, do
not these dark nights, icy winds and snow-filled skies leave us dreaming of
summer? Perhaps A Midsummer Night’s Dream at Malvern Festival Theatre is
perfect timing.
Custom/Practice Theatre Company enjoyed acclaim at the
Edinburgh Fringe last year with this interpretation of Shakespeare’s original
and most famous ‘Rom-Com’, an enchanting fairytale of the magical mayhem that
ensues when lovers flee royal decrees, passions are unrequited and the fairy
kingdom is at war.
A vibrant cast of eight cleverly portray the large
collection of characters against Rosa Maggiora’s simplistic set design, which
was the ideal platform for the actors to display their many talents. Liam
Mansfield is commanding as Oberon, Rebecca Meyer is beautiful as Titania. Clare
McMahon is feisty in the role of Hermia, while her lover Daniel Francis-Swaby
is charming as Lysander. Rebecca Loudon is wonderfully tragic as the love sick,
Helena and Naoufal Ousellam is dashing as Demetrius. Shane Frater’s Puck was
understated, whereas the opposite is true of Lorenzo Martelli’s superbly
obnoxious Bottom!
Director, Rae McKen’s vision worked perfectly with the
target audience, engaging them from beginning to end and filling the auditorium
with raucous laughter throughout the players enactment of Pyramus and Thisbe,
the staging of which earned the characters their title of the ‘Crude’
Mechanicals. The components from the rest of the creative team worked together
superbly to capture the magic within the live performance, particularly Ed
Lewis’ music and sound design.
The energised eloquence of this production makes Shakespeare
incredibly accessible and fun. This is definitely one to go and see. A
Midsummer Night’s Dream runs until Saturday.
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