A Midsummer Night's Dream

This is 21st century theatre at its best. This wonderful and outstanding production of 'A Midsummer Night's Dream' is undoubtedly a creative success on every level. The show is spectacle at its purest, deftly combining different arts in profoundly original and previously unthinkable ways, and yet in so doing, it loses nothing of the vivacity of Shakespeare's text. This fun and lively adaptation sucks you in and I can only feel jealous of those lucky enough to have watched it in situ. Thanks to great improvisations by all cast members, a fantastic use of the theatrical space and a pretty killer soundtrack this hilarious, complex and greatly entertaining mise en scène is a joy to watch. Watching it in early July 2020 during the coronavirus pandemic is the true midsummer night's dream. One of NTL's greatest shows.

This is 21st century theatre at its best. This wonderful and outstanding production of 'A Midsummer Night's Dream' is undoubtedly a creative success on every level. The show is spectacle at its purest, deftly combining different arts in profoundly original and previously unthinkable ways, and yet in so doing, it loses nothing of the vivacity of Shakespeare's text. This fun and lively adaptation sucks you in and I can only feel jealous of those lucky enough to have watched it in situ. Thanks to great improvisations by all cast members, a fantastic use of the theatrical space, well-choreographed scenes and a pretty killer soundtrack this hilarious, complex and greatly entertaining mise en scène is a joy to watch. Puck was absolutely fantastic, charismatic and fun to watch. Watching it in early July 2020 during the coronavirus pandemic is the real midsummer night's dream. Truly magical! One of NTL's greatest shows.

Grade: 9.5 / 10

Let's face it. Actor like the Bard because it gives them free reign to over act.

This show is a bore fest. The acting is horrible. In fact, it's so bad that you will wind up laughing and not because it's supposed to be funny.

The production sucked too. It's a train wreck.

Wonderfully realised, with absolutely genius direction and scripting. Characterisation is absolutely, marvellously perfect, Puck, Bottom, Titania, Oberon, the whole cast give their utter best combining 21st and 16th century east London with classical Athens an smatterings of Mancunian gay bars, strip,clubs and deep, dark misogyny. Bottom is fabulous! I've seen countless productions of A Midsummer Night's Dream, but never have I laughed so heartily, or gripped my seat in horror. Theatre at its absolute best.

Right now there are 7 user reviews of this film and every single one of them is either a 10 or a 1 rating. Neither score is deserved.

Overall, this is a very good filmed play. The approach is unusual, adding some songs and acrobatics in the mix, as well as some cross-gender bits, all of which works well within the magical framework.

The most notable performances, for me, are Isis Hainsworth and Tessa Bonham Jones as Hermia and Helena. The women is other versions I've seen have seemed rather weak-willed and vapid, but here they are smart and personable. Jones Helena is especially remarkable, in that she seems driven less by desperate, pathetic love than by an internal fury that makes her declamations of love and subservience come out like bullets. The best scene is the one in which the criss-crossed lovers fight and woo; it's wonderfully funny and wild.

The other great scene is the final play-within-a play, with Hammed Animashaun grabbing the showy role of Bottom with both hands and full joy. This little play was the great disappointment of Julie Taymor's version of MND, which she made weirdly serious and sad. Here it's down as it should be; as a proto-Mystery Science Theater 3000.

The rest of the performances are fine, but less notable than the standouts. The acrobatics are fun, although one scene of Bottom and Oberon on a bed is remarkably badly filmed, in that it focusses on the bed, which is repetitive and uninteresting, while ignoring most of the silks action on the ceiling. The only excuse to that is their main camera stopped working for that five minutes and they had to make do, otherwise it's just incompetence.

This looks like it would have been great fun to see live, but even filmed it's quite entertaining once you get past the inevitably tedious set-up scenes.