A Midsummer Night’s Dream

Jordan Best again demonstrates her comedy skills with this wonderful adaptation, which is about as far from the 1999 overblown, unfunny movie version as it’s possible to get. With flawless timing, Best coaxes energetic clowning from her actors. The cast includes several CAT Award winners and Q favourites, such as Jenna Roberts stealing scenes as a sexy, frustrated Helena chasing Duncan Driver, who transforms Demetrius into a slack-jawed mouth-breathing twit. Titania’s attendants are livened up by Erin Pugh playing Moth, a gawky, tone-deaf wingless fairy, while Cam Thomas imbues Nick Bottom with appropriate idiocy. The Mechanicals use impressively co-ordinated Buster Keaton-esque slapstick. Every one of the cast is good, but if a stand-out had to be nominated, it would be Dave Evans with his wicked, physically challenging performance largely on his haunches as an acrobatic Puck.

The art-deco costuming was beautiful and could link in with the 1920s slapstick of the Mechanicals, but somehow the look was not quite meshing with the overall style of the play and seemed a bit arbitrary. The fairies look gorgeous and particularly their wings, on springy wire, were cleverly done. Wayne Shepherd’s abstract set of plain, white fabric tubes is a little reminiscent of his design for Canberra Rep's 2011 Speaking in Tongues, and works well with purplish hues of the night scene lighting, but more could have been made of it for the day scenes. Somehow the look is just not quite as coherent the way, say, Best’s The Imaginary Invalid was.

None of that detracts at all and people will be too busy laughing to notice. Thankfully they avoided the green and flowery cliché, and humour-wise it blows that 1999 film out of the water. I’m starting to believe that you could give Jordan Best a copy of The Ring Cycle, a blue pencil and a bunch of talented actors, and she’d come up with something hilarious.

Cathy Bannister

Image: Jenna Roberts and Duncan Driver in A Midsummer Night's Dream