A Midsummer Night's Dream is always fun, and the Globe's production of many people's favourite Shakespeare play is no exception.
Director Dale Neill has met the challenge of directing the 20-plus cast on the theatre's small stage. The set, constructed by Ray Fleury and Don Knewstubb, is functional rather than decorative, extending the acting space vertically.
The real visual treat is the costumes, created by Nina Duke Howard with the assistance of Elizabeth Duke and Sofie Welvaert - colourful and imaginative, with more than a hint of fin-de-siecle finery.
Thursday night's opening suffered occasionally from problems common to amateur productions: varying levels of acting ability, awkward stage movements and lines delivered too quickly or almost inaudibly.
As the evening progressed, however, the mostly young cast (several of whom study theatre at Otago University) gathered strength and momentum and carried them through to a triumphant and hilarious finale.
The four young people whose romantic escapades are central are played confidently and engagingly by Nick Tipa (Lysander), Andrew Brinsley-Pirie (Demetrius), Miriam Noonan (Hermia) and Elisa Jones (Helena). They work with strong rapport, great timing, agility and considerable charm.
Another group to watch is the mechanicals, the workmen who don't let bumbling cluelessness get in their way of putting on a play.
As Bottom, the loud and amiable fool subjected to fairy magic, Brook Bray dominates the stage with his long-limbed physical presence. Also highly watchable is Oscar Macdonald as a drink-sodden Starveling, anxious to please but always teetering on the verge of collapse.
A Midsummer Night's Dream continues an exceptionally good year at the Globe, and an evening of midsummer folly in a wood near Athens makes a cheering antidote to a midwinter night in Dunedin.
A Midsummer Night's Dream
Globe Theatre
Thursday, July 24
- Barbara Frame.
