'A Midsummer Night's Dream' review — this riotously fun production is perfect summer fare

Read our review of A Midsummer Night's Dream, now in performances at Shakespeare's Globe to 29 August.

Summary

• A Midsummer Night's Dream returns to Shakespeare's Globe
• Emily Lim directs a gloriously fun version of the play
• There is plenty of audience participation and involvement
• The enjoyable performances include Michael Grady-Hall as Puck and Adrian Richards as Bottom

It seems audiences never tire of Shakespeare’s tale of arguing lovers and mischievous fairies, as yet another take on A Midsummer Night’s Dream arrives to open the summer season at Shakespeare’s Globe. And this one is a glorious riot of colour and confusion.

Emily Lim’s joyous production ramps up the fun and energy enough to make the audience giddy. With bubble guns, singalongs, and a party atmosphere, it’s about as far removed from the Globe’s previous two versions of the play as it is possible to be.

Extensive audience participation is the main theme here; riotous at times, with Michael Grady-Hall’s anarchically silly Puck and the ensemble ensuring no one escapes from taking part. People are plucked from the crowd to audition for The Mechanicals’ play, we collectively wake the lovers from their dream through harmonised song, scatter confetti from the rafters at the weddings, and are generally made to feel truly involved with all the magic and mayhem.

In a nice twist, Grady-Hall’s Puck accidentally gets some of the love potion intended for Lysander into his own eyes and promptly falls in love with an unsuspecting (and very game) audience member. This well-timed joke then runs through the rest of the show, often to very funny effect.

Enyi Okoronkwo and Audrey Brisson take on both feuding fairies Oberon and Titania, as well as royals Theseus and Hippolyta. Okoronkwo is a flamboyant Oberon, wearing chandelier earrings and a ruffled dress, and Brisson is a commanding and sexually charged Titania, taking on the maternal side of Hippolyta.

Adrian Richards is scene-stealing as a stagey Bottom who is more deluded theatre kid than clown, dressed in Hamilton and Cats T-shirts, with a wonderful donkey outfit bedecked with a blinding amount of silver sequins. Warming up as if for a marathon, with large headphones to block out distractions, Richards is simply delightful in his delusions of grandeur.

The lovers – Mel Lowe (Lysander), Gavi Singh Chera (Demetrius), Sophie Cox (Hermia), and Romaya Weaver (Helena) – act and look as though they are appearing in a 90s teenage romcom, complete with very amusing slapstick routines as they descend into chaotic fighting.

Lim’s direction, combined with James Cousins’s movement, ensures the pace never dips, with action even during the interval as Helena searches the audience for Lysander. The quieter, more thoughtful, parts of the play feel swallowed up in the highly choreographed disarray on stage. But it is so enjoyable, it doesn’t seem to matter.

Despite some classical-looking statues in the background, Athens feels far away with Aldo Vázquez’s brightly coloured, gaudy design: fake hedges, kitsch flowers, and clashing costumes. Jim Fortune’s gentle score evokes more bucolic vibes, with folk songs and the odd pop reference thrown in.

It’s true that we never feel the nervousness of the lovers alone in the forest, nor any of the potentially unsettling aspects of the text. But shying away from the darker sides of the play feels more than appropriate for these troubled times, and this Dream is perfectly frivolous summer fare.

A Midsummer Night's Dream is at Shakespeare's Globe to 29 August. Book A Midsummer Night's Dream tickets on LondonTheatre.co.uk

Photo credit: A Midsummer Night's Dream (Photos by Helen Murray)