A Midsummer Night's Dream - Waterloo East Theatre

Having seen at least 5 productions of A Midsummer Night's Dream in the last 4yrs, it felt like seeing it again was more than overkill. However, Waterloo East Theatre hosted a fresh take on the story, setting it deep within the walls of Broadmoor, offering up Oberon & Titania's fairies as in-patients partaking in arts therapy.

Fascinatingly enough, the basis is true. In the 1960s the RSC themselves visited Broadmoor to offer patients a chance to watch and take part in plays that would attempt to enrich the mind. 'A hospital wide collaborative enterprise was activated. It involved staff and called for advice and practical help from many patients'.

The version from London Voice & Motion stayed true to the original pentameter of Shakespeare, although I'm not convinced that Oberon, played by Samuel Jimah, did it justice. His accent made him quite hard to follow and although I gather from the cast that he has come on leaps and bounds from the first rehearsal where he struggled with the Shakespearean language, he was unfortunately still the weak link among the cast.

As for the lovers, well, Joanne Moroun as Hermia was fantastic. She had energy and stage presence that drew you to her on every entrance. Helena also gave a performance that represented the least pathetic version of the character I have seen thus far, and that's quite a feat for someone who claims to be Demetrius' loyal spaniel. Testament to Charis Beyer that I did not find Helena's character as annoying as I do normally. Derek Aidoo's Demetrius was as good as any other Demetrius I have seen...the lads are left a little dry in terms of character development I'm afraid, so through no fault of his own, more the lacking of Shakespeare's hand to write anything particularly compelling, the performance was average. Joe Gallina's portrayal of Lysander? Well, I'm a little biased here as he was the reason we went to see the play in the first place. However, for a guy I've only ever heard about on the rugby field, he gave an almighty charming performance to some otherwise embarrassingly cheesy loved-up lines, as well as providing some much needed muscle to break up the feisty fists of Hermia as she quarrels with Helena.

The Set

Megan Palfreyman as Titania was another strong performance, particularly her seductive techniques and daggered stare that was directed at the fairies who distracted her lover's attention. She was strong and another character I would have liked to have seen more of. Bottom was portrayed as an egotistical tyrant and I'm not quite sure whether the fact he frustrated me so much was down to talent in doing so or whether actor Roy Ryan himself had an ego to match. The accents seemed a little pointless to his part, although I have to say that his interpretation of the role 'player' at least gave us a giggle.

The fairies of Cobweb and Mustardseed were particularly brilliant in portraying the mental instability of the patients of Broadmoor - Cobweb (Krisztina Losonci) staring intently and smiling excitedly at the sign of violence and death in the tale of Pyramus & Thisbe. Mustardseed (Linda Nagajeva) instead portrayed the childlike emotions jumping from extreme excitement and happiness to wide-eyed fits of frenzy at the death of Pyramus. Particularly as the action centre stage was hidden from my view, I was drawn to the performances of both of these two characters specifically - they maintained their characterisation brilliantly well throughout both acts of the performance. 

Leo Sene - Puck

Puck, well where would MSND be without our mischievous little sprite? At first, I wondered how they would portray a wheelchair bound Puck, however, as he quickly took on his physical form we were treated to a comedy performance worthy of bigger stages. Leo Sene's movement was brilliant and his comical understanding of the bard's works, really quite something. Particularly well timed was the travelling through the woods in which he used the set well and the exclamation of 'yayyyyy' whilst being held in Oberon's arms. Similarly comical and well-timed too, was the performance of Reece Skinner as Flute/Thisbe. His facial expressions were animated and his vocal performance only added to the entertainment.

Overall it was not a performance that wowed but one that instead brought simplicity and creativity to a play I have seen far too often of late. Although the performance of Pyramus and Thisbe played upon gags I have seen time and time again, the production's fresh take on the setting and the comic expertise from Puck made it a joy.

Here was a taster of what we got to see: https://vimeo.com/98458164