A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Pendleton Shakespeare Company, Ben Kingsley Theatre, Salford College, 22nd-24th June 2015
Whilst strolling through Buile Hill Park, the clouds gathered, creating a sudden eerie change in the light. My companion asked, ‘Will there be ghosts?’ Not tonight.
For we were travelling to see the Pendleton Shakespeare Company – not, presently, a home for ghosts, but for the fey (as this review is of a play where overacting is the fun, I shall let fly with the hyperbole).
We buy not tickets but butterflies (or moths) – fashioned from the text of the play.
The stage is a quad (theatre in the round) offering us a panoramic view. The only sounds are whistles and cries from the curtains behind us. The props were minimalist but effective. Two straight pines indicate woodland, and two illuminated bowers are brought out to show Titania’s bank.
The opening dialogue between Theseus and Hippolyta is subdued as the actors find their volume. But soon we are in full swing.
The costumes were of a high quality, taking a 1950s theme: Hermia was dressed as a feisty Sandy Dee, Helena as debutante in a flouncing green dress. Lysander, a blonde Fonz. Demetrius, reminiscent of Brad from Rocky Horror.
The King and Queen of the fairy court were well decked as well – Oberon’s garb was leather with a Turcoman headdress. Titania wore a bustle resplendent with fairy lights.
The director Joe Lathwood sends us two pucks for the price of one. These stout seelies, male and maid, frolicked and wriggled delightfully and brought many laughs the whole night. At times their lines were delivered in chorus or in turn. This innovation added energy to the whole performance.
Was the play funny? Humour is a problem between modern audiences and Shakespeare. But this has been overcome by the cast generally with a good grasp of the rhythm of the language.
Highlights of humour included Helena’s comic use of her bicycle in pursuit of Demetrius. This young actress’s desperate longing and agony of unrequited love was unstinting, a surprising mastery in one so young. She chased Demetrius around the stage on that bicycle in demented circles.
The lady sitting next to me was laughing most of the time, so much so she would glance at me as if embarrassed at finding the play funny. This is surely a good sign.
The fisticuffs between the lovers was well timed and lively, especially the squabble between Helena and Hermia, when there was some excellently choreographed lifting and kicking as the women locked limbs.
Yet, the comic zenith of the show was the work of Bottom/Pyramus. The extremities of this lean teen did high justice to the role, bringing sustained laughter from the ranks of the audience. Particularly during the last act when playing Pyramus in his kingly crown – a bedraggled golden laurel that looked like half a hedge – he repeatedly impaled himself to the cackling of the onlookers.
The cast as a whole had blossomed by the third act, and had clearly worked hard at their comic gestures and timing. The play was a great success. We can expect great things from the troupe of the Pendleton Shakespeare Company and its director, Mr Lathwood.
Alex Pearce