THE promotional literature billed this as ‘an ambitious and hallucinatory take on Shakespeare’s much-loved comedy’, but not much seemed to be left after over-judicious pruning reduced this hippy-themed, drug-induced staging to a 90-minute, no-interval, somewhat self-indulgent ‘best of’.
With scenes cut wholesale, it was left to the mischiefmaking fairies and the squabbling lovers to provide the bulk of the entertainment, much of it accompanied by strobe-lit pulsating music beats, with much shouting but little attention paid to the verse and pronunciation.
The few remaining mechanicals, headed by Jed Marshall’s imperious Bottom, didn’t even get to perform their play, so laughs were mainly provided by the lovers’ forest misadventures, with Sarah Divall as the engagingly willowy Helena showing a talent for both Shakespeare and physical comedy.
Ed Howson
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