A Midsummer Nights Dream at Aylesbury Waterside

The Globe Theatre touring production of A Midsummer Night's Dream actually came to Aylesbury. This is the only venue after starting at The Rose Theater, Kingston before travelling to Russia and Asia. I don't think I had seen this play since I was young. Maybe it was when I was 13 or 14 when Frankie Howard played Bottom  and Judy Dench was the first fairy at the Old Vic in 1957/8. I cannot be positive this was the production I went to, but seeing the play again was an opportunity that was too good to miss.

The play itself I have always thought to be too flimsy and ridiculous. But there is plenty to enjoy with this production, even down to the set where two columns replicate those at the Globe Theater itself. The ensemble acting is good and the verse (so much verse) is quite clear. The staging is OK, but I had expected more from a top director like Dominic Dromgoole. He should go and watch a Maria Aberg production, although Stratford has the benefit of a thrust stage.

But the biggest thrill for me was when I read in the programme that Jaine Dee would take the parts of Titiana and Hypolyta. She has always been one of my favourite actresses and only this month we had watched the reruns of two feature length P D James murder mysteries from 2003 where she starred alongside Martin Shaw as Adam Dalgleish. She is still the same bubbly actress I remember. Aden Gillet is also fine in a similar dual role of Oberon and Theseus.

The young lovers are OK, but I don't think the dialogue does them any favours. But the stand out performance for me was Molly Logan as Puck. Now here is a very young actress destined for big things despite her tiny stature. Then we come to the comedy. I'm not sure if the whole cast of the clog dancing Mechanicals had changed from the glowing reviews they had from the Globe 2013 production, but these could have been better. The geordie Bottom was a huge disappointment. Pierce Quigly played the part in London, but here Trevor Fox just wasn't good enough. The play within a play at the end was quite funny, but not the riot it could have been. The stage they erect for their performance of Pyranus and Thisby is quite clever with two more but smaller tilting columns. But when the props are funnier than the performers, something is not quite right.

Photos are from the 2013 London cast.

P.S. The funniest bit for me was when the Mechanicals were given their parts for Pyranus and Thisby and Flute (the best of this group played by Steffan Donnelly - another name to watch for) rushes through his whole script by memory instead of waiting for his cue. I'm still chuckling even now. It just seemed a very modern piece of fun. He is told "you speak all your part at once, cues and all".