A Midsummer Night’s Dream
About the Production
This is the second time that Theatre Workshop have visited the strangely English forest that exists just outside Shakespeare’s Athens. Peter Quince and his band of tradesmen cum would-be actors have wandered out from the city to ensure they’re not overlooked as they go about their amateur thespian labours, but either they’ve wandered much further than they intended from the busy streets of London, or there’s a thriving English enclave of ex-pat artisans tucked away in the shadow of the Parthenon.Â
There are changes. Not least in the location of our endeavours. Having seized the opportunity to take the group from its home and perform in the open-air just three years previously, we’ve gone further, and at the invitation of Southern Water, will take the production to the shores of the Bewl Water reservoir, near Lamberhurst in Kent. Though the setting is idyllic, this represents no small undertaking, especially for an amateur group whose members are mostly in full-time employment. So we can feel for Messrs Starveling, Bottom, Snug, Snout and co., as we do a full day’s work and then barrel down the A21.
But we’ve not given up on our first open-air home, and will perform first at The Woodman before packing up and heading for Bewl. We could hardly do otherwise, given that it’s our regular watering-hole.
Let’s talk about the music for a moment. Most of the music you’ll hear will be played live by Mark Taylor, though there are a couple of passages that are pre-recorded. He’s composed most of it himself too, because he’s a talented gentleman. Exceptions include the fairy and bergomask dances in Act IV and V which are set to traditional tunes. He’s also composed the music for ‘Philomel with Melody’, whose lyrics are by Shakespeare, and given that Shakespeare’s own lyrics to the fairy benediction at the end of the play are lost to us, we’ve used a 5th Century Celtic blessing as the basis for a song, which again will be accompanied by Mark Taylor’s music.
One last thing. The production is dedicated to the memory of Lesley Argles, a member of Theatre Workshop almost since the beginning. She died aged just 44, as the result of a tragic accident on the 13th July, only two weeks before curtain up. Her husband, Chris, who she met through the group, as well as her son, Luke, and daughter Kimberley, are all on stage here tonight. They were united in their decision that the production should go ahead with their full participation, despite grievous personal loss. They are certain it was what she would have wanted.
The Cast
Behind the Scenes
Image Gallery
The Reviews
Yes, this is a production to grace a summer’s night
Visiting Shakespeare’s Athenian woods for the third time in a month, I recalled Oscar Wilde’s dictum that nothing succeeds like excess. Indeed, hand on heart, my three July Dreams have all been thoroughly enjoyable occasions, and this one by no means least. The enterprising Theatre Workshop Coulsdon are becoming old hands at the open-air game, having staged three previous productions at The Woodman pub. The gardens prove ideal for the present enterprise, with the cunningly costumed fairies blending into the wooded background like camouflaged sprites and the lovers lending enchantment to the pastoral setting.
The lyrical text is delivered with an assurance born of Richard Lloyd’s confident direction. His own Oberon and Lisa Lloyd’s Titania, a truly regal pair, are prime examples of the blending of poetry and magic, and the authority with which they are imbued.
There is an almost pantomimic quality about the lovers’ confusion in the woods. Simeon Dawes’ posturing Demetrius and Neil Grew’s hot-headed Lysander adopt a stylised manner as they vie for the love of Tina Bretman’s splendidly spoken Helena, while Tatiana Allison’s Hermia rages like a thwarted imp. This all serves to underline the supernatural direction of Paul Breden’s mercurial Puck.
The hempen homespun actors are under a different sort of authority, that of the actor-manager-ish Quince of Chris Argles, who brings his roistering troupe under a wayward discipline. Full marks to Paul M Ford’s uproarious, expressive Bottom and all the crew.
Paul Beaumont and Vicky Gunstone, as Theseus and Hippolyta, benignly endure not only the Pyramus play and its galumphing dance sequel but also the self-satisfied paternal rage of Bruce Montgomery as Egeus.
In sum, a production to grace a summer night, crowned by excellent music and special effects.
Reviewed by Donald Madgwick for The Croydon Advertiser, 2 August 1996
Braving the Bard beneficially at Bewl
Theatre Workshop Coulsdon must surely have been delighted with the turnout on Saturday night. The area around the edge of Bewl Water which was the setting for the company’s production of A Midsummer Night’s Dream was packed with enthusiastic theatre goers equipped with blankets, chairs, picnics and lanterns. The evening was blessed with a dry spell and sheer numbers had cleared out the stock of programmes. But the trouble with this play is that it is just too well known.
I had taken my 14-year-old twins who had studied it for SATS exams this summer and their criticisms in the interval included “The sword fight between Hippolyta and Theseus at the start was tacky – Theseus says he woo’d her with his sword – Helena is supposed to be ugly – she is not desperate enough, just loud – Hermia didn’t display shock when being told if she didn’t marry Demetrius she would have to be a nun – Puck isn’t mysterious enough – Bottom is good.”
The ‘Rude Mechanicals’ were indeed very good – and their play and Morris men-style stick dance were hilarious. In fact, all the players appeared to improve in the second half, including the female leads, Tatiana Allison and Tina Bretman, who staged a splendid catfight, spitting over the bewitched Lysander. Neil Grew, and Simeon Dawes in the role of Demetrius, were confident and relaxed in their delivery throughout. Fairy costumes were woodland green gossamer camouflage, sound was good, and musical director Mark Taylor’s almost continual background music added to the atmosphere. The production team should take a good deal of the credit for a very pleasant evening.
Reviewed by Margaret Silwood for The Courier, August 16 1996
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