If you're looking for an antidote to the snow, the recession and the dark cold nights, this is it. The coldest week in London for eighteen years meant trudging through the snow to dream of Midsummer seemed an unlikely prospect, but dream we did in a hilarious production of Shakespeare's comedy which was absolutely played for laughs. Sharp choreography, inventive puppetry and a youthful and dynamic cast brought the humour of the play to the forefront in every scene, and though some of the finer lines on the philosophy of love may have been overshadowed the success of Gregory Doran's approach was amply borne out by the roars of appreciative laughter from the stalls.
      Those who enjoyed Edward Bennett's recent stint standing in for David Tennant as Hamlet will not disappointed in his well timed and finely judged performance as Demetrius. He and Lysander, played by Tom Davey, make a great pairing here, contrasting the square and cool slacker as they vie for first Hermia's love and then Helen's. From the outset, there are visual gags that embellish Shakespeare's script. When Hermia's frustrated father complains to the Duke that his daughter has fallen for the wrong guy, Lysander stands forth as requested and such a contrast do his cool clothes and wryful expression strike with the blue-blazered parent-appeal of Demetrius that the audience erupts.
       The fairies in this production use children's' doll puppets that move with them like familiars. It's a clever device, leasing the gothic dead-baby association that plastic dolls can have, but still appropriating the innocence of children. Puck, played by Mark Hadfield is a fat fairy past his prime. We first find him fast asleep on the forest floor, and as he pulls himself up, bleary eyed in a baggy black vest it's clear he is recovering from a hard night out of his tree. The rationale behind Puck-the-klutz can easily be made, after all he causes chaos when he enchants the wrong lovers, but those whose prime joy is the magical transportation this play can afford may feel the miss of a trick on this score.
      The unalloyed star of this show, if not every production of Midsummer Night's Dream, is Bottom. Joe Dixon plays the part with a mesmeric physicality, gently swinging his arms and swaying his bulk in a perfectly choreographed example of belly acting. He is benign, comic, and endearing as every Bottom should be, and his animal physicality prefigures the transformation that will shortly come. There are, of course, three spheres of influence in this play, the fairies from the king and queen down, the three pairs of mortal lovers and the 'rude mechanicals'. In this production Bottom and his playmates conquer all and the theatrical potential of their play within the play is exploited to its outer limit. Anyone who doubts the propriety of this balance in Midsummer Night's Dream should see the mechanicals in action over their Pyramus and Thisbe. Constant confusion, a pair of red underpants and the wretched and intimate struggle to locate a chink in an increasingly confused wall had tears of laughter rolling down my cheeks. This is a fun, funny, sexy production of the play and I urge anyone who has yearnings for midsummer to stop dreaming and get along to the Novello and give themselves a treat.
Charlie Taylor