REVIEW: Bottom's Dream, The Forty Pound Theatre Company, The Bent Brief, Southampton (From Daily Echo)

REVIEW: Bottom's Dream, The Forty Pound Theatre Company, The Bent Brief, Southampton

9:33am Wednesday 21st December 2011 in Curtain Call By Anne Waggott

Faced with a pantomime “loosely based on the sub-plot of Shakespeare’s Midsummer Night’s Dream” to be performed in a pub, I wasn’t sure what to expect; nor, I suspect, was the rest of the audience. What the group of university students and lecturers provided was a totally surreal and unique experience. What made it work was the energy and enthusiasm that the actors brought to the production, and their satirical approach.

Jordan Moran was most exuberant in his role of “ham actor”

Bottom, with a powerful voice, good balance and a flare for comedy, while Robert Stansbridge (Flute) and Ross Johnson (fairy Titania) were totally outrageous panto dames.

Gena Famin was highly skilled using mask and mime, and had great physicality as mischievous sprite Puck (assisted by “fishing” fairies).

An adults-only panto (bawdy with a nod to the Bard) and a real Marmite production. Perhaps a second helping is warranted to be sure.