The Dream – Bell Shakespeare

Overview

If you know no other Shakespeare, you probably know A Midsummer Night's Dream. It’s the one with fairies, often seen being put on in parks and botanic gardens. Expect no prancing or wing-and-tutu ensembles from this latest version by Bell Shakespeare, however. So determined is this production to separate itself from the usual woodland fantasia aesthetic that it is being presented simply as The Dream.

It aims to be a darker version of the play, the focus more on the dramatic elements of a script usually played as a fluffy comedy. It has also been economised and the cast streamlined, with actors switching roles as scenes jump abruptly from one story thread to another. One moment, they’ll clown about as the amateur actors preparing a play for the king, then they’ll throw on robes and thunder as outraged nobility and star-crossed lovers, then the lights go dim and a sinister soundtrack indicates it’s fairy time. The fairies are played as creatures of the night, wearing leather jackets and moving animalistically, heightening the sinister nature of a myth usually painted in gloss.

It’s bold in concept and fast-moving in execution, certainly different from any Botanic Gardens Dream you’ve seen, but it does rely on you having some familiarity with the play. If you don’t already know who the characters are, the fast pace is likely to confuse the fairy dust out of you, especially at the beginning.  

There is also a tendency to rush over some of the gentler moments. The scenes which work best are those involving conflict or madcap comedy but romance scenes, so central to the story, are lacking tenderness. The romantic leads, eloping lovebirds Hermia (Lucy Honigman) and Lysander (Gareth Reeves) and unlucky in love Helena (Nikki Shiels) and Demetrius (Johnny Carr), are never quite believable as couples. The constant bluster between them, combined with the inexplicably ocker accents used for these characters, makes their relationships seem more like ones you'd see unravelling on Swanston Street at 2am rather than coming together in a fairy-haunted forest.

Oberon (Ray Chong Nee) and Titania (Janine Watson) are delightful though, the thunderous and manipulative nature of their relationship perhaps more more forgivable in a fairy king and queen.  Julie Forsyth is memorable as Puck and Richard Piper gives the role of Bottom both its comic dues and some character nuance. All the cast deserve credit for the energy and physicality of their performances, which sees them on stage constantly, often clambering over the set or executing whirlwind scene changes.

Despite all the energy, it kind of fizzles out at the end. This is partly due to the reduced cast. In the original, the performance of the peasants’ play prompts an all-cast-on-stage moment with the nobles watching the peasants and the fairies watching the nobles, a classic Shakespeare performance-within-performance moment. With only one set of actors to represent all three groups, this isn’t possible and the performance of the peasants’ play after the plot has been resolved and the romantic leads have all left feels unnecessary.

Ah well, if you want to see a classic take on this play, one’s sure to pop up in a park near you soon enough. The Dream, while perhaps overshooting its mark in going dark and dramatic with a story about fairies and love potions, certainly offers some new perspectives on a work more complex than it is often given credit for.