It is no mean feat to pull off an adaptation of one of Shakespeare’s best-loved plays. A successful variation must overcome preconceptions by ripping apart the original and reconstructing it in unexpected ways.
Jagged Fence's version of A Midsummer Night’s Dream began promisingly. I had read online that this was to be a ‘rip roaring 1920s production’ and was excited about this innovative time frame for the adventures of four young lovers and their interactions with forest-dwelling fairies.
Director Poppy Burton-Morgan unusually set the first and final scenes outside, on the terrace of the Riverside Studios. This creative if a little chilly choice created the juxtaposition that is so intrinsic to a play riddled with opposites: dream versus reality; fairy versus man; male versus female; comedy versus seriousness. Following Helena, who bid us to “follow me … to Studio three!”, we walked through the entrails of the Studios and physically ‘entered’ the dream world with the four lovers, Demetrius, Helena, Hermia and Lysander.
The main set was basic to say the least: a black studio was brightly lit with white lighting that sadly didn’t alter throughout the performance and was hardly atmospheric for the dreamlike forest where the action was taking place. Mismatched and colourful cushions for the audience were haphazardly but welcomingly strewn on the floor, creating a bedtime, intimate feeling and fuelling the audience’s shared sense of curiosity as to what was about to unravel.Unfortunately, although these concepts were exciting, the execution was disappointing. The production did not fit well in the black-box space and I later learned that it was designed for an outdoor venue in Derbyshire. The 1920s theme, though sparked, never fully got going: a brief but brilliant Charleston by Titania and Oberon began to evoke the Roaring Twenties atmosphere, but it came too late; Shakespearean fairy songs transformed into a jazz ‘lullaby’ as the fairies lulled Titania to sleep, but such nods to the bygone era were few and far between; though Lysander wore a straw boater, Puck a flat cap and Hermia a feather hair piece, only Helena mastered the tell-tale clipped accent that bespoke the past age and I was left with the slightly gutting feeling of watching partygoers in fancy dress return from a themed evening.
The bare set exposed rather than masked the acting. Cue Emily Dobbs and Hugh O’Shea, the standout performers of the show and its saving grace. Dobbs was a convincing, dithering, and hilarious Helena whilst O’Shea was exceptional as Bottom and Demetrius. Her lust for Demetrius was entirely believable whilst he moved seamlessly between the two parts, delivering Bottom’s soliloquies out to the audience in a convincing Scottish accent and with great pizzazz.
Tim Jackson gave a solid performance as a comically camp Lysander whose dramatic quips resonated with the audience and, though Robert Boulter showed signs of being a splendid actor, his suave swaggering around the stage made him an odd choice as Puck, the mischievous but charismatic imp. One of the production’s major pitfalls was the lack of convincing relationships between the characters: there was a good heated catfight between Hermia, played by Sadie Pickering, and Helena over the two men; but Hermia and Lysander’s relationship lacked flair and they had little chemistry as lovers – Pickering spoke many of her impassioned lines out to the audience, rather than to him, which detracted from Jackson’s more convincing eye-contact and physical contact.
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| The terrace at Riverside Studios, Hammersmith |
Titania’s fairies were white mesh dolls that were simply but effectively mounted on canes and handled by the lovers. There was one moment when all the fairies, ‘hovering’ behind Titania, moved in unison, following her line of vision to the left then the right. Yet this type of well-rehearsed manoeuvrehappened only once and so the device seemed only half-heartedly executed.
Nevertheless, the performance as a whole was certainly engrossing with a varied pace that was anything but boring: at one point the audience was hooting with laughter when Helena chased Demetrius around the perimeter of the cushioned seating in a slapstick pledge of her love. Moreover, the audience remained engaged and responsive to the jokes, frequent asides, and moments when Puck sat down amongst them. Though the production was based on an unfulfilled Twenties motif and at points seemed unpolished, it was still an incredibly enjoyable show. Dobbs and O’Shea were shining examples of the potential of Jagged Fence and this young and dynamic company is definitely still one to watch.
