Ambassadors Reviews for A Midsummer Night's Dream

Thu 01 Dec 2011

Molly, Joseph Rowntree School, Year 8

Classic Shakespeare isn’t the first thing that springs to mind when entering the York Theatre Royal’s main house and seeing the set of A Midsummer Night Dream- three desks, complete with drums, a key board, sound processing decks and an Apple Mac laptop. Also, the six plastic seats at the back. It also isn’t the first thing that enters your mind if you see the set again at the end of the show- the same musical equipment, but with a khaki patterned mini tent, empty beer cans, a fold-up chair, a mountain made up of a fetching frilly pink dress crowned with a star-pattern wellington boot. Not to mention the heavy scattering of marshmallows all over the stage. The final result-a surprisingly brilliant must-see laugh-a-minute comedy.
The Shakespearian language was maintained almost through-out and the beauty of this production was partly due to the ability of the performers to pull off Shakespeare’s immensely difficult dialogue like they were talking in the 21st century.
The characters in the show were all perfectly played and they all fell into the categories superbly well. The comics of the show were the loveable and hilarious Peter Quince, who had one foot in the 21st century and one in the 16th century; his brilliantly entertaining prologue raised the bar for the whole show. “Steve” or Bottom, a cunning plant in the audience was also a great comedian, the partnership between him and Peter Quince worked really well and was extremely funny. Oberon, the asthmatic King Of All The Fairies, complete with blue lycra, a silver cape and a bum bag, was the other main source for laughs.
The other actors were played outstandingly well, they kept up pace throughout and also let the original storyline be known through all of the show.
There wasn’t an interval, which I think benefited to maintain the pace of the show as I don’t know where they would have left off or picked up.
I thoroughly enjoyed this performance, and on the way out I kept playing some of my favourite moments through my head again, as hungry for more as a young child scraping her plate for the last crumbs of her chocolate cake.

Katy, Joseph Rowntree School, Year 9

A Midsummer Nights Dream is like nothing I had ever watched before. I think it was the combination of having the orchestra as part of the performance or the fact that there was a man all the way through who constantly referred to the audience as a whole and talked to them as if there wasn’t a play going on. But i thought it was one of the best plays i have been to see. It was amazing as somebody who doesn’t know the story to well I don’t know what part of the story was actually in it or how much of it was scripted but this combination worked brilliantly. The fact that they spoke in Shakespearian English didn’t matter as it was done so well it was almost like it had been translated into modern English.

The characters were really good although I was confused who was who until quite near the end. The person who played Bottom was introduced in a really clever way. They staged it to look like he was just somebody from the audience who was volunteering to stand in but you could tell that he was a plant. I liked the modernisation of some of the characters and the use of physical theatre.

The way they had the sound was brilliant they had a sound collage which always started with one of the actors making the noise and then a computer version over the top from a keyboard. The fact that they had some of the actors signing and becoming part of the collage made the whole effect work really well. My favourite part of they sound was the fairies because they had the female actors making squeaking noises. The way that the musicians made you feel that you were sort of out side.

The use of props was actually very subtle and minimal but it was still effective. The most effective thing was the fact that the props weren’t there. They did allot of things to make you forget you were in a theatre but you didn't think you were out side.

You would like to say that the humour is quite subtle but the majority wasn’t there were a few things that were very subtle, but having said that the less than subtle approach was better.
This show was amazing on if it wasn’t on tour I would go and see it again. You can’t even say why you find it so good but you just would. 10/10

Ela,Joseph Rowntree School, Review

On Tuesday 29th, I saw ‘a midsummer night’s dream’ at the theatre royal. I hadn’t read up on the performance before going, so was expecting a traditional, good old-fashioned dramatic Shakespeare performance.
On entering the theatre, the first thing that hit me was that it was no longer in the round, so the stage felt strangely far away. The second thing I notices was the set. There were instruments, technical equipment, cables, tables and chairs just strewn about and there seemed to be practically no space to perform. I was also told then that the actors apparently weren’t going to be wearing costumes. At this I am ashamed to say, my prejudice took over, and I basically decide it was going to be a rubbish play.
Thankfully, I was wrong! It took a while, but I gradually opened up to the play and, in the end, enjoyed it very much.
As the lights dimmed, a man came up onto the stage and started a speech, which turned into a hilarious comedy act. I thought it was a great introduction to the play. Throughout the show after that there were many highlights for me; I really liked the way the characters of the fairies were created through sound effects and microphones. The music seemed a little out of place at first, but once I got into it I thought was actually very fitting and original, and I especially liked all the vocal sound effects.
I thought Oberon, Puck and Bottom were the funniest characters overall, but the others had some great little snippets of comedy throughout the play. I also think it important to mention that the musicians did a fantastic job not just with the music, but with their acting also, especially ‘Thisbe’. Also, the way in which they included audience participation was very subtle and it would have been even better for me if they had included even more! I thought it was quite effective how, when it was the ‘actors’’ scenes, they changed the script and had interruptions and modern-day language.
I thoroughly enjoyed this version ‘a midsummer night’s dream’ and now I think I should watch the traditional version to compare.

Hannah, Year 10, Joseph Rowntree School

If you were to look upon the stage completely unaware of its surroundings and context, you would definitely not assume Shakespeare. With brightly coloured instruments, laptops and old stools scattered across the stage in random disorder, you get the feeling you have just walked into a garage band rehearsal. It is definitely not Shakespeare. No way, I thought to myself on November 29th when I viewed A Midsummer Night’s Dream at York theatre Royal, can this work. How can Shakespeare be unorganised or untraditional? They proved me very wrong.
Through a combination of seemingly spontaneous rock and pop music, a few wooden stools and some uncomfortable looking Lycra, the talented company of Filter and Lyric Hammersmith productions produce frenzy out of nothing. Retaining the classical works of Shakespeare and delivering them with a passion that pulls you completely out of the real world, they blend together a blur of emotion and unrequited love that could easily be transposed to a modern context, only without the fairies. With an unbelievable amount of energy, they fly through the production, pulling you into the very obvious fun they are having. They are evidently completely devoted to their profession, and I have to particularly congratulate the woman who played the role of Helena, who delivered a spectacular and emotional, yet comic performance through her mannerisms and delivery of dialogue. And this is still said for the rest of the cast, who were focused and in role for the entire performance, even when creating the music that accompanied it. Through the use of everyday items and props, the cast incorporated diverse and comical music into the performance, and it became a large part of the atmosphere created. The productions strips back theatre to the pure basics and makes a spectacular evening of it, springing something new an unexpected on you round every corner.
Filter and Lyric Hammersmith have produced a must see piece of theatre, that collaborates beautifully a classic tale of Shakespeare and modern comedy in an unbelievable way. It made me question how well I know Shakespeare, because I don’t think he was ever prepared for this!