A Midsummer Night's Dream

Holroyd Musical and Dramatic Society's production of A Midsummer Night’s Dream brought a very fresh modern feel to the classic fantasy tale.

Director Laura May has escalated the environmental themes of the fairy world (acting as nature) throughout all design elements of the play.

The Red Gum Centre was transformed from its usual theatre layout, to the stage being on the floor where audience normally are seated, with the audience in this instance seated along both sides of this newly formed stage. This brought the audience closer to the action and helped with the sound, as none of the actors had microphones. The reflective screen used at one end of the stage, which was used to represent a separate dimension that Oberon, Titania and Puck entered into was an interesting design effect, although from some areas in the audience you could only see part of the action through the screen.

It was clear from the beginning of the night that May's cast understood the Shakespearean language and were able to express this for the most part to the audience in their portrayal of the characters. They made it easy for the non-Shakespeare lovers to understand the story, and Laura May’s coneptualisation.

The Fairy King and Queen Oberon and Titania, were played brilliantly by Nicholas Starte and Chrissy Moylan. They had a great rapport with one another and the brawl Oberon and Titania have over the Changeling Child was felt through their delivery of the dialogue. Nicholas never let the power the King’s role drop once throughout the night and Chrissy's surprise and disgust to find she was blindly in love with Bottom was very funny.

Alison Benstead, playing the role of the fairy servant Puck, expressed the role’s necessary balance of cheekiness and dark playfullness superbly. The physicality she brought to the character was a delight to watch and hilarious in parts,

Our four lovers in the piece were Jordan Heidecker (Lysander), Jade Fuda (Hermia), Erin Franks (Helena) and Matthew Doherty (Demetrius). All four played the roles well and used lots of light and shade in the delivery of their dialogue. The only negative was that some lines seemed to be rushed when some of characters got excited.

Special mention for the smaller roles most go to Heather Tleige as Snug (one of the players in the play within the play), who played up the character’s shyness and got many laughs when she played the Lion.

Many of the actors played two roles, one in the fairy world and one in the human world. For those not aware of this in the audience it wasn't clear enough when the actors changed character. There could have been more of a significant change perhaps in costume or voice of character to make the audience aware of this.

The environmental elements Laura May used in her design concept were an interesting touch to the performance, although it wasn't clear to the eye just how they were being used in the telling of the story. This was all made clearer in the programme, although those who didn't buy one will have missed out on the reasons for the design choices, especially in Jordan Vassallo's adventurous set design.

Overall this production of A Midsummer Night's Dream was an exciting night of theatre delivered in an innovative way.

James Russell