A Midsummer Night's Dream - Shakespeare's Globe

A new Globe season. The start of the summer. (Only a little rain). And a new artistic director – with A Midsummer Night’s Dream the first production under Emma Rice’s leadership, and also the first production directed by her at the Globe.

She’s come from Kneehigh, and there were some familiar Kneehigh faces in this – particularly Puck (Katy Owen), who was very funny as the young servant Robert in Kneehigh’s wonderful Rebecca last year. She’s equally funny as Puck in this – mischievous, naughty, dangerous and fun, playing gleefully with both the actors and the audience. And Bottom (Ewan Wardrop) was another familiar face from Kneehigh who became an instant Globe favourite.

There were also echoes of Kneehigh’s style in the music, dancing, aerial work, and general air of irreverence in this A Midsummer Night’s Dream. Special mention to the Changeling puppet, which was quite beautiful too.

I can see what this production is intended to be – a riot of fun and colour and wildness. I’m thinking something like a Baz Luhrmann film live, on stage, in the Globe space. But it needed to be pacier to really achieve that wildness. I dare say the pace will pick up as the run goes on.

What worked particularly well were the scenes with the lovers. I really like the male Helena – ‘Helenus’ – the gender switch brought something new to the dynamic. And all four lovers had great chemistry and comic timing. They were recognisably of our world and our time (the Hoxton hipster references went down well, and I enjoyed the Beyoncé dance).

In fact, all the dancing was fabulous – from the fairies’ slightly terrifying moves right through to the joyous Bollywood-inspired jig at the end.

But am I allowed one quibble, as someone who goes to the Globe a fair bit? I know I probably sound like a bore, but I found the amplification of the actors’ speaking voices quite disconcerting. I didn’t mind it for the music, but for the dialogue it seemed unnecessary and took away from the intimacy of the Globe space. When you’re standing in the yard, sometimes actors talk directly to you - or sometimes someone tall is standing in front of you and you can’t see who’s talking, so you rely on your ears to tell you where to crane to look. When their voices are coming from somewhere other than their bodies, neither of those things work.

In a production that was otherwise really proudly physical – with some imaginative and brilliant movement – it seemed strange that the voice was treated as separate from that physicality. The voice is part of the body too.

But hey, that’s a minor quibble. It’s exciting to see new things at the Globe. New ideas, new approaches, new faces. And I really enjoyed A Midsummer Night’s Dream (which I saw at the matinée on 21^st May 2016). It was naughty, irreverent, imaginative and fun, and – most importantly for a comedy – it was funny.

I’m looking forward to the rest of the season!

The Importance of Being Earnest - The Pantaloons

I always enjoy a Pantaloons show. I like their style – madcap, physical, and often slightly anarchic but not without depth and substance.

The Importance of Being Earnest is not an obvious choice of play for them – it has little depth and doesn’t lend itself easily to anarchy. But that didn’t stop the Pantaloons bringing their customary verve and vigour to it at the Underground Theatre on 7^th May 2016. With added songs, audience participation, and numerous un-Wildean interjections, they unashamedly turned the piece into a proper Pantaloons show.

Wilde purists may have been taken aback by the way the physical became just as integral to the humour as the words. Lady Bracknell (Kelly Griffiths), Doctor Chasuble (Neil Jennings), and Miss Prism (Alex Rivers), in particular, became much funnier through their physical characterisation than I have often seen them portrayed.

But a Pantaloons show is no place for purists. As they say in their programme notes, the company aims to “wrench these works from the closed world of theatrical and educational institutions and return them to the breathing, bustling world of the outdoors, telling contemporary stories in a contemporary way to contemporary audiences.”

So if you’re attracted by the title and only want to see a traditional production of The Importance of Being Earnest, then, I’ll be honest, this may not be entirely for you. But if, on the other hand, you’re ambivalent about the title because you think it’ll be the same old thing, then I’d urge you to give the Pantaloons a go. You’ll enjoy it more than you think, and it definitely won’t just be the same old thing.

And that goes for Earnest, their Shakespeares, and any of their other productions too. So if you’ve missed Earnest (it's on tour until 14th May), the Pantaloons are on tour with three productions over the summer months. Take a look at their website for details of Gulliver’s Travels, The Canterbury Tales, and Romeo and Juliet.