'A Midsummer Night's Dream' review — a glorious production of Shakespeare's most spellbinding comedy

Read our review of A Midsummer Night's Dream, starring Matthew Baynton, now in performances at the Barbican to 18 January 2025.

Magic is sewn into the seams of Eleanor Rhode’s production of A Midsummer Night’s Dream, which premiered at the RSC earlier this year. This truly is a night of fantasy. Fairies buzz across the stage like tiny fireflies, normality is tipped into a topsy-turvy haze. On the expansive stage at the Barbican, the midsummer evening spreads out wide, celebrating in its mind-boggling mayhem.

In his first stage role for a decade, the endlessly talented Matthew Baynton morphs into Bottom. Wearing a double-breasted pinstriped suit and channelling a slimy, self-absorbed energy, he dominates the stage with expert comic timing. As soon as he arrives, we await his transformation eagerly. But, despite Bottom’s bullish tendencies occasionally poking through, Baynton keeps him airy and pleasant.

Fans of Ghosts, kids included, will not be disappointed with his big-hearted performance. But though Baynton is the star vehicle in this Dream, he is far from the only one who deserves the spotlight.

The fight between the four central lovers, Hermia, Lysander, Demetrius and Helena, is played out with more fire and venom than I’ve ever seen. As the two women, Boadicea Ricketts and Dawn Sievewright explode at each other for their broken sisterhood. When Lysander is put under the “love juice’s” spell, Ryan Hutton makes him a teenage boy, possessed. During its enchantment, he kisses Sievewright’s punkish Hermia and recoils back in physical disgust, retching as if he has been poisoned. She stands, looking back him, broken and mortified.

These push-and-pull relationships in Shakespeare’s most spellbinding comedy undoubtedly hold Rhode’s staging together, but the picture put together by designer John Bulleid is also a treat. At first, we come into a grey and stoic Athens. Decorated in thin, steely string curtains, it is a place defined by law and order. And yet, just behind it all sunlight creeps in.

Once the lovers dare to escape into the forest’s chaotic realms, the design follows suit. Big bouncy electric orbs float down from the ceiling, tingling with the fairies’ squeaks. Plastic balls in clownish colours fall suddenly, without warning.

Fairies appear and disappear again into the darkness. As the Fairy Queen, Titania, Sirine Saba exudes an unwavering power. Dressed head to toe in a pink gown, she looks as if she’s been birthed from the skies.

By the end, when the dreamworld is no more, only confused memories remain. A few stray strips of pink paper lay tired on the floor as souvenirs. We won’t need them to forget this glorious midsummer eve, but they’re a nice touch, even so.

A Midsummer Night's Dream is at the Barbican to 18 January 2025. Book A Midsummer Night's Dream tickets on London Theatre.

Photo credit: A Midsummer Night's Dream (Photos by Pamela Raith)