OUDS and Thelma Holt's annual Shakespeare tour to Japan is perhaps the most highly anticipated student drama event of the Oxford year. In 2016, a year exhibiting the greatest works of the Bard, the production is a celebratory version of A Midsummer Night's Dream set in 1920s Bradford. The previews of the show are being held in Brasenose college quad, and while the production is not designed to be a garden show, Will Felton created a charming and magical production with the setting he had.
The Bradford setting for this production of Dream sometimes seemed like an excellent decision, and sometimes failed to hit the mark. Shakespeare can work incredibly well when performed using accents, demonstrated by the current use of the Irish accent in the Globe's production of The Taming of the Shrew. Unfortunately, most of the northern accents used in Dream were shaky, although some performances, Calam Lynch as Demetrius in particular, were excellent. There were also some badly integrated sequences – the opening mechanicals scene was paused so that Bottom (Tommy Siman) could sing for us, and there were also some odd moments of physical characterisation in the second half, both of which upset the pace. The show also did not remain loyal to its own setting. As good as the folk/rock inspired music was, it brought an alien element of the 1980s into an otherwise 1920s world.
In general, the cast did a fantastic job of Shakespeare's script, with some standout performances. Madeleine Walker as Philostrate, a relatively small role, was irresistible onstage, always completely embodying her character and her quirks. She then joined Mischa Pinnington to play Titania's handmaids, Cobweb and Moth, the two of whom were pleasingly animalistic and playful throughout. This playfulness however did not stretch to the fairy royals, Titania (Emma Hewitt) and Oberon (Christian Bevan), whose characters fell a little short – they didn't feel viciously Machiavellian or display enough regal power, and shared a painfully awkward reconciliation dance that didn't have enough of a foundation to work. Ali Porteous as Puck, the jester of the royal court, gave a performance with some wonderful moments, but could have done with showing some restraint. His relationship with Oberon felt unbalanced as a result.
The fairies, along with the rest of the cast, were costumed incredibly well by Alex Wickens, who also featured as a hilarious and subtle Starveling the Tinker (perhaps an intentional in-joke). The fairy court were dressed in stunning leather-and-feather themed outfits that intelligently tied the characters to the theme. The Bradfordian concept was most successfully invoked by the Athenians' costumes, a deliberate contrast with the fairies, that was gradually more and more influenced by the fairy-leather-look. This aspect fed nicely into the overarching interpretation of the play, the progression from sanity to madness. This progression was one of the best aspects of Felton's direction. It was a shame that the garden setting didn't allow for lighting that would enhance the progression.
One confusing element of the direction was the treatment of the lovers. The decision to make Demetrius secretly in love with Helena the whole way through the play felt like an awkward misreading of the text. It wasn't quite clear why Demetrius, if he was in love with Helena, didn't just marry her and avoid all the confusion in the forest in the first place. Helena (Ellie Lowenthal) started the play as being sexually attracted to violence, an interesting reading on her character, but one disappointingly abandoned as soon as the love spell was cast. Despite this, the four actors playing the lovers were consistently excellent, and complimented each other well.
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