REVIEW: THE LOVERS Is Brilliant Modern Musical Adaptation Of Shakespeare’s Magical Mixed Up Quartet of Young Lovers

Wednesday 5th November 2025, 7pm, Theatre Royal Sydney

Shake & Stir Theatre Co brings Laura Murphy’s (Book, Music & Lyrics) THE LOVERS back to Sydney with a fabulously fun new production.  Premiered in 2022, this contemporary musical theatre adaptation of A MIDSUMMER NIGHT’S DREAM pairs William Shakespeare’s story with fresh new pop songs while merging of old and new language and culture to prove that love and all its challenges remains relevant more than four centuries later. 

While A MIDSUMMER NIGHT’S DREAM can be quite complex and convoluted in Shakespeare’s original form, with a betrothed Duke and Queen, a quartet of young lovers, an amateur theatrical troupe and magical Fairies and Sprites messing about with love in the depths of a Athenian forest, Murphy has opted to focus on the young lovers, with Oberon (Stellar Perry) and their trusty sidekick Puck (Jayme-Lee Hanekom) as the magical forces that wreak havoc with their lives under the guise of good intentions. The beautiful and popular Hermia (Loren Hunter) is her father’s pride and joy and he’s arranged for her to be married to Demetrius (Jason Arrow) but she’s not that keen on the posturing arse even though he’s smitten with her.  Hermia’s heart belongs to Lysander (Mat Verevis) who returns her affections but, in her father’s eyes, is not a suitable match as he lacks the wealth and status he’d expect for his daughter.  While Hermia doesn’t return Demetrius’ affection, her bestie Helena (Natalie Abbott) is remarkably smitten with Demetrius though he’s too full of himself to give her the time of day.  It is when they enter the forest to get to Lysander’s Aunt’s place, that they fall victim to Oberon and Puck’s interference and misunderstandings start messing up their lives.

For this new production, Shake & Stir’s founding member and co-Artistic Director Nick Skubij leads the work as director.  He has bought together a wonderful creative team of Isabel Hudson as Designer, Trent Suidgeest as Lighting Designer, David Bergman as Sound and Video Design and Yvette Lee as Choreographer.  When paired with Murphy’s music and book, Skubij and his team have created a bold bright work that plays up to the contemporary culture while honouring the story’s Tudor inspiration.  As if smashing through the traditional, remnants of a traditional theatre proscenium remain, enabling spaces for Oberon and Puck to oversee.  Simplified spaces are presented on the triple revolve stage with ‘real’ world ideas like the tree in the forest given a magical note with pink foliage. With Hudson responsible for set and costume design, she’s delineated the world of ‘reality’ in Athens and the magical world of the forest with the shift from the monochrome and stone making way for pastels, pinks, ornate embroidery and softer shapes.  The spaces and the themes are reinforced by Suidgeest’s ever inventive and colourful lighting design and Bergman’s video design that is layered over the various backdrops and surfaces. 

Skubij had gathered a strong cast that deliver strong vocals, clear dialogue, crisp choreography all infused with a perfect comic sensibility in both the physicality and the timing as the performers balance the understanding that there is an absurdity to the work with the character’s belief in their responses.  The quartet presenting the young lovers ensure that the characters remain relatable as they deliver caricatures of the lovesick wall flower that knows something is up when suddenly the boys ‘see’ her, the confident queen bee finally discovering the world doesn’t revolve around her, the cocky cassnova who can’t even win the girl he thought was devoted to him, and the easy-going guy generally has what he wants.  As the meddling mystical beings Oberon and Puck, are a delightful duo with Perry delivering a strong leading force and Hanekom presenting a sweet expression of the somewhat incompetent but ever devoted servant and companion. 

Along with the fresh new take of the Shakespearean tale, simplifying it to a single story arc, the new music and lyrics that Laura Murphy has composed for THE LOVERS is fabulous in both its ability present the story and themes with a contemporary sound but also the detail, complexity and cleverness of the lyrics.  While other musicals have gone the jukebox route, it is refreshing to see and hear fresh new creativity and the soundtrack of this work reinforces that audiences should be supporting the creation of new work that is written to fit the story rather than taking existing pieces that are shoehorned into a plot. 

THE LOVERS is a Must See modern musical.  Even if you saw the premiere season, see THE LOVERS again as it is presented with a new vision and a predominantly new cast.  While this work has already been presented in Brisbane, hopefully the tour will be extended to more cities.  It is a work that deserves to be picked up and seen around the world.  Do not miss this.

Sydney - Now Playing | The Lovers | A Musical by Laura Murphy

Photos: Joel Devereux

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