A Midsummer Night’s Dream
About the Production
Theatre Workshop Coulsdon’s first flirtation with Shakespeare was, somewhat inevitably, ‘A Midsummer Night’s Dream’. Although it seems such a staple of the theatre, both professional and amateur, its attractions are many and not the least of those is the ability to mould it, change it and make it unique to the group and the actors performing in it. Which suits TWC. The show itself, though undeniably funny, is an oddity, if you look at it with anything more than a scant glance. The event that draws it all together is the marriage of Theseus and Hippolyta, one the legendary slayer of the Minotaur, the other the Queen of the Amazons, and yes, in some versions of the myth of Theseus, these two characters did marry. But for all their lauded provenance, here they are ciphers, showing little real character in the few lines that they have at their disposal. The four lovers bear classical Greek names, all in accord with their part in the court of Athens, but the rude mechanicals do not despite being subjects of Theseus and working within Athens. Shakespeare drops the facade for these clowns, and calls them as they are, English tradesmen. One does wonder why, in Shakespeare’s mind, this division should exist, where the nobility have exotic names and the working classes not. Was he attempting to make them more identifiable to the groundlings? We may never know.
Two of the rude mechanicals would remain rude across two further TWC productions of ‘A Midsummer Night’s Dream’. Chris Argles, here showing us his ‘Bottom’, would go on to play ‘Peter Quince’ in 1996, and then ‘Tom Snout’, the tinker in 2016. Tim Young would move from playing ‘Peter Quince’, carpenter and frustrated amateur director and impresario, to ‘Snug the joiner’ in 1996. Clearly a part he enjoyed, he reprised it in 2016 too.
One other thing remained a constant. The donkey head. Created for this show by Caroline Dawe using chicken wire, papier mache and fur fabric, it adorned the heads of Chris Argles, Paul Ford and Richard Lloyd in successive productions, and remains in readiness for the next revival.
The overture to ‘A Midsummer Night’s Dream’ was the Cello Concerto in E Minor by Edward Elgar. The interval music was ‘The Lark Ascending’ by Ralph Vaughan Williams.
All incidental music used during the production was traditional, arranged by Theatre Workshop Coulsdon, with the exception of ‘Philomel with Lullaby’, the music for which was composed by Mark Taylor.
The Cast
Behind the Scenes
The Reviews
Almost a sweet Dream
Period and location have no significance in A Midsummer Night’s Dream. It is a timeless play dealing in magic and mystery; and the Athenian wood in which most of it is set could be any enchanted wood where the fairies hold sway. Theatre Workshop Coulsdon, whose production was spread over two weekends, opted for an odd mixture of modern costumes for the mortals, but by far the most eye-catching were those of Titania and her fairies.
The play was directed by Richard Lloyd, who also played Oberon. The result in equal scale weighed delight and dole, but I think there would have been more of the former if the director had not himself been so actively involved on stage. In the matter of Shakespearean verse-speaking, complete detachment from the action usually makes for a more integrated style. In this basic respect, I found Lisa King’s Titania by some way the best of the team. Her performance was light and full of grace.
Unlike many of the others, she played to the text without attempting any forced or eccentric constructions. In general there was a tendency to snatch at lines and thereby lose bits of them. More seriously, innocent words, like Egeus’ “sweetmeats” and Puck’s “amends” (the last word of the play) were seized on like firebrands, causing their speakers to fly into a sudden passion of which the text itself gave no hint.
The comedy of confusions in the wood had a somewhat stiff and restrained quality. Rob Ickinger gave Lysander’s reactions a jerkiness suggesting a marionette moved by strings, an approach perhaps justified by the fact that he was under a spell of enchantment. Tanya Allison as Hermia, and Christine Blake as Helena, played out their Little and Large routine, with Simeon Dawes as Demetrius making a surly and crotchety contribution.
The rude mechanicals were an amusing group. Tim Young’s Peter Quince giving especially good value. As Bottom, Chris Argles shackled himself with a middle-class accent, adopting a pleasing rusticity only in the guise of Pyramus. If only he could have applied this throughout, his portrayal would have been funnier by half.
All reservations having been made, enough remained to make this a lively and interesting evening.
Donald Madgwick for The Croydon Advertiser
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