"A Midsummer Night's Dream" at Shakespeare's Globe Theatre

Shakespeare's Globe production photo by Helen Murray

 

This was my second visit to Shakespeare's Globe Theatre. The first must have predated my blogging, as I don't have a record of it. I'm pretty sure it was The Merchant of Venice. In any case, it was a very good production, so I was looking forward to this. Midsummer isn't my favorite Shakespeare play, but it can be very good, and I looked forward to what the Globe company would do with it.

The Play

It's Shakespeare. It's a comedy. Lots of fairies and a play within the play and Puck getting up to mischief. You know the drill.

The Production

One thing I like about plays at Shakespeare's Globe is that the theater is very traditional, to the point that they basically don't do sets. Minimal decoration, lots of interesting costuming, and let the play do most of the work. Having seen a number of way over-the-top productions of A Midsummer Night's Dream in recent years, I was looking forward to a more minimalist approach. This did not disappoint. aside from a net that provided Titania's bower and a few props for the mechanicals to use in their Pyramus and Thisbe, it was mostly just a stage and a bunch of actors.

Several things jumped out about the cast. One, it was quite diverse, and two, they cast women in a number of the more traditional male roles (e.g., Mariah Gale as Bottom). In fact, all the mechanicals were played by women, who also doubled as fairies. And Hermia was played by Francesca Mills, a little person, which gave extra power to some of the lines about her (e.g., "though she be but little, she is fierce"). Mills was terrific throughout.

This was a very energetic production. Where many versions of Midsummer stage the chasing and fighting in a fairly minimalist way, the crossed-up lovers were tearing all over the stage here. Weirdly, the least energy came from the craftsmen who were putting up the play within the play. They seemed almost an afterthought, particularly when it came to the actual play, which seemed a disservice to them. But overall, the production was of high quality and quite enjoyable. The nobles kind of inexplicably adjourned to the upper level when the mechanicals staged their play, which made the interplay difficult to hear and understand. By then the nobles were apparently all too drunk to really do much. That seemed a weird choice by director Elle While. But otherwise, it was pretty solid.

The Bottom Line

This play is very well known and frequently performed. As a result, it's pretty easy to mess up and pretty difficult to do in a really impressive way. This show was mostly done well, though with a few questionable choices. But the acting was very solid, the music was good, and overall it was a good time.

Seeing Shakespeare in the Globe is always a treat, and it's nice to see that they can take a clever path through a well-known text without going off in a crazy direction. This was solid, and worth seeing.