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| Isabel Burton - Richard Pyros - Matu Ngarope -Imogen Sage - Ella Prince - Ahunin Abede - Laurence Young in Bell Shakespeare's "A Midsummer Night's Dream". |
Directed by
Peter Evans - Associate Director Julia Billington
Set and
Costumes designed by Teresa Negroponte
Lighting
design by Benjamin Cisterne – Composer and Sound design by Max Lyandvert
Movement,
intimacy and fight direction by Nigel Poulton
Canberra
Theatre Centre Playhouse 7th – 15th June 2024
Performance
on 7th June reviewed by BILL STEPHENS
Arguably
one of William Shakespeare’s most popular plays, A Midsummer Night’s Dream has survived endless interpretations by
inventive directors, composers, choreographers and designers working in
theatre, opera and dance.
Peter Evans
nails his colours to the mast with this production for Bell Shakespeare to
substantiate the ethos of the company that Shakespeare’s plays are not static
and that his words require constant exploration to be truly appreciated.
Given that
much of the play takes place in a forest, and involves fairies and noble folk,
the first surprise occurs on entering the theatre. Teresa Negroponte’s stark
wooden setting is more suggestive of a shipwreck than a forest. Are we at the
right play?
Indeed we
are and the reasons for Negroponte’s design choices become obvious as the play
progresses. No pretty fairies and luscious forests in Evan’s vision. His
fairies are costumed in black, his lovers wear contemporary clothes, his
mechanical’s wear rough loose costumes while Negroponte’s abstract setting
provides lots of interesting nooks and crannies to accommodate his athletic
staging. It works a treat.
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| Imogen Sage (Titania) - Richard Pyros (Oberon) - Matu Ngaropo (Bottom) in Bell Shakespeare's "A Midsummer Night's Dream" |
Evans has
also taken some liberties with the arrangement of the scenes, commencing his
production with the Mechanicals rehearsing Pyramus
and Thisbe, the play they are going to present at Theseus’s wedding, then bookending
his production with their actual performance.
The opening
scene ends with a stunning coup de theatre during which the Mechanicals
suddenly transform into the Nobles arguing over the arrangements for the
wedding.
It is at
this point the wisdom of Evans’ decision to cast his production with just eight
actors becomes evident.
By
deflecting the attention from sets and costumes with the clever use of props
and having his actor’s adopt a strongly physical acting style, he’s not only
able to showcase the versatility of his cast, but also focus the attention on
Shakespeare’s words.
A surprising
result of this strategy is that the scene in which the four lovers argue, which
in the hands of less skilled actors can often become tedious, became the
highlight, due in part to the extraordinarily physical staging by Nigel Poulton
but also to the inventive performances by Isabel Burton and Ahunim Abede as
Helena and Hermia, and Mike Howlett and Laurence Young as Demetrius and
Lysander.
Matu Ngaropo
scored early in the play with his wonderfully over-the-top performance as
Bottom, which was in complete contrast to his interpretation of Hermia’s unyielding
father, Egeus.
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| Mike Howlett (Demetrius) - Richard Pyrus (Oberon) - Isabel Burtin (Helena) - Ella Prince (Puck) and Laurence Young (Lysander) in "A Midsummer Night's Dream" |
Imogen Sage offered a regal, subservient Hippolyta to contrast with her wily Titania, while Richard Pyros brought a malevolent edge to his interpretation of Oberon, which was particularly obvious in his relationship with Puck, engagingly portrayed by Ella Prince.
This marvellously entertaining production from Bell Shakespeare is particularly notable for the inventiveness and physicality of its staging, which, while contributing to the clarity and therefor enjoyment of the text, surprisingly reveals a hitherto unsuspected darkness in the writing.
Images by Brett Boardman
This review also published in AUSTRALIAN ARTS REVIEW. www.artsreview.com.au