REVIEW: Guest Reviewer Hamavand Engineer Shares His Thoughts On A MIDSUMMER NIGHTS DREAM

Wednesday 6th March 7pm 2024, Playhouose, Sydney Oopera House

Shakespeare’s A MIDSUMMER NIGHTS DREAM held at Sydney Opera House was once again, a hit with the audience and is often touted as a clear favourite amongst audiences, from the variety of Shakespeare’s works currently in production worldwide. This production, run by Bell Shakespeare company and Directed by Peter Evans and associated Director Julia Billington, afforded me a second-row centre seat to what I considered as a most valuable and impressive piece of work and not to mention, a prime view to observe the impressive stage set up, lighting and music.  

The show is a comedy of four lovers – Hermia, Lysander, Helena and Demetrius – who have lost their way in a forest and are tricked by King Oberon, Queen Titania and Puck, the fairies who dwell there. There are also the bumbling mechanicals – a carpenter, a weaver, a tinker, and a joiner, to name a few, who meet in the forest to rehearse a play to perform at the upcoming wedding of the Duke and Duchess of Athens, Theseus and Hippolyta. Set in Athens, it’s a play within a play, which, if you are not a Shakespeare aficionado and new to its storytelling, can be confusing. Furthermore, many of the actors play double or even triple roles. With a lack of obvious costume changes, this often at times, contributed to the confusion of who was playing what.  

The production’s silent opening sets the rules for a stripped-back, non-spectacular staging, which appeared to be a dilapidated wooden structure, trying to resemble a forest. I use the word trying, as there were no leaves or foliage of any kind to help indicate the forest at large. Nonetheless, lighting designer, Benjamin Cisterne did a fantastic job at creating scenes of escape, intrigue and suspense within the forest, which made up for the rather lacklustre backdrop. 

The role of Hermia, played by Ahunim Abebe, was outstanding. The clarity with which she delivered her lines, the urgency with which she emoted and her emotional sensibility captured the audience’s attention, as each line was articulated clearly and cleverly through precision memorisation. Bravo to the entire cast in fact, for the delivery of such challenging and thought-provoking lines, for to memorise them all is no small task, let alone delivering them. Commendations must also go to Voice Director, Jack Starkey-Gill’s, who’s input to achieve this resulted in the potentially confusing story being clearly communicated. 

The show was not short of side-splitting laughter, which brought the house down. Particularly towards the very end of the show, where the humour could best be described as “camp and feisty”. Bell Shakespeare promotes the show as “fast, funny and family-friendly”. This is a welcome change, as only a few of Shakespeare’s plays are suitable for children. Whilst it did not always make me laugh, it had its funny moments in my opinion, but I sensed the majority of the audience was kicking back their heads in laughter. It’s therefore, safe to say that this particular production did not fall short of delivering on that promise, as the diverse audience members lapped up the humour as promised.  

The Sydney showing of A Midsummer Nights Dream is the beginning of a national tour. It continues at the Sydney Opera House until March 30 before touring around Australia

Photo by Brett Boardman