REVIEW - A MIDSUMMER NIGHT’S DREAM Bear in The Air Productions at Jack Studio Theatre 29 Aug – 2 Sept 2023

'The audience left entertained, with a smile on their faces’.

Bear in the Air productions presented a well put together play in regard to structure, slighted by technique and castability. Nevertheless, the audience left entertained, with a smile on their face.

The pre-set remained throughout the show. A pretty spectacle, of vines, logs, grass mounds and a Greek statue, designed with class by Writer Heather Simpkin and Director Conor Cook, setting the scene, along with the eerie lighting, creating the mystery at the heart of this play of potions and fairies. It’s a shame that the tech team wasn't credited as they did a stand-up job- unless the pair took that on as well! A mention as well for the hospitality of the staff at the Jack Studio Theatre.

The Directing was to the standard from Cook. Managing a cast that rarely had less than three people on stage at a time. The craft was indisputable, and everyone was seen at the right moments. The addition of their horrible histories like composition also lent itself well to the piece— poignantly opening and closing acts, a staple of the beginnings of success.

Throughout the piece, two things kept coming up in my reactions. One was an uncomfortable feeling in “human touch” between the whole ensemble. They looked like they didn’t know how to experience holding hands and waists. I would question the intentions within the play, but I find it hard to give benefit of the doubt when it’s a play following young lovers, desperate for the others' approval. I expect this is something easily solved by some intimacy coordination. The other thing was a collective engagement with accents. A cop out for the six who were multi rolling, where I’d have liked to have also seen further differences physically, as well as the recycled Welsh, Northern and Heightened RP between them all. But just to be clear, the accents themselves were mostly good. It’s the device itself that I believe needed more looking into.

Another big thing that stood out to me in the piece was a lack of understanding of the words; particularly in the first few scenes. Not to fault the actors’ commitment, yet the connection to the language and the inner life of these characters was scarce. It highlighted, subjectively, the importance of an individual or people dedicated to voice/language in the modern-day rehearsal room when looking at a classical text, to call you out and pick up on where the storytelling needs clarity. Because where there is controversy in performing Shakespeare today, albeit an adaptation, there is a reason that there is ‘a way to do it’, even when you are pushing boundaries or making changes. It comes down to the level of understanding between the actors and the audience. Such as Elizabeth Prideaux, in their larger speeches, reeling off the lines like a spoken word piece, experiencing and feeling, in my eyes, little of what their more frequent characters, important roles, Helena & Tatania experienced. So then how are we supposed to connect? If the words themselves are already a barrier, can we not get the sense of it? And once you’re lost it’s very hard to find your way back (from the audience perspective.) It’s not to put anyone down. Ultimately, I wasn’t in the rehearsal room. I just want to insist that it’s crucial that time goes into the words.

The travelling players were the highlight, providing some genuine and off the cuff comic relief. There was a consistent longing for their scenes, where the ensemble really all came together and worked as a unit. Topping it off with a very funny showing of Pyramus and Thisbe.

Peter Quince and Bottom were played excellently by Jack Jacobs and Nicholas Southcott, introducing an “umph” to their characteristics. It’s a shame that the same can’t be said for the other parts they played in Lysander and Demetrius— such different parts, which didn’t quite hit the mark. Uniformly strong in all of their roles were Sadie Pepperrell and Sally Sharp. Two actors that brought clarity, presence and real variety to the piece.

A Midsummer Night’s Dream is one of Shakespeare’s most well-known and sought after plays. So, props to Simpkin for making a text of their own. It was a very likeable cut but I struggle to see what the new version did to give something to the world we are living in. I’m not saying that a midsummer night’s dream always needs to be updated and relevant, a farcical comedy can be what it says on the tin…but I question why this production and why now. What was particularly different and again, why? A question I still feel is unanswered following the curtain down. The layout is all there; there were very few, if any visible mistakes and as I mentioned in a previous comment, it has the beginnings of success.

A MIDSUMMER NIGHT’S DREAM

Bear in The Air Productions at The Jack Studio Theatre, London

29 August – 2 September 2023, 19:30pm

By William Shakespeare, Adapted by Heather Simpkin and Directed by Connor Cook

Tickets cost £17 / £15

Book online at: https://brockleyjack.co.uk/jackstudio-entry/a-midsummer-nights-dream-2/

Running time 2hrs incl. a 15-minute interval.

Cast: Yvette Bruin, Elizabeth Prideaux, Sally Sharp, Nicholas Southcott, Jack Jacobs, Sadie Pepperrell

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Review by Evan L. Barker

Evan L. Barker is an alumnus from East 15 (2021). Prior to training, he'd been immersed in the industry since the age of seven. The writing bug hit at the age of seventeen- writing his first play and a year later producing and directing it at The Volcano Theatre in Swansea (May 2018.) Evan, now based in London, is co-founder of The Shed Theatre Company where he wants to facilitate theatre that's thought provoking, progressive and accessible.