Midsummer Night’s Dream at the Tobacco Factory

I’ve seen ‘a Midsummer Night’s Dream’ numerous times on a variety of stages, and yet, it never ceases to amaze me how many different ways a director can roll the play out. I suppose it’s because the words of the Bard are eminently transportable from past to present and move with ease from small venue to large. My experience this time was that Andrew Hilton at the Tobacco Factory excelled himself with a production that was funny, expressive and innovative.

I was immediately intrigued by the three ladders that had been securely mounted to the central pillars on stage – it soon became obvious these were for the fairies to scamper up and hang in the air in a Faustian kind of way. For, I have never seen fairies like these; they were slightly sinister beings, who resembled Droogs wearing black Elizabethan ruffs. Oberon was compelling to watch, a force to reckon with and more like Neo from the Matrix than a faerie king. His Titania and her fairy-attendant were mysterious maids, the former proud and stately, the later impish and base as she romped and cavorted with Puck. Helena and Hermia, were both dressed in very similar peach froufrou dresses which added to the air of confusion surrounding their, soon to be, predicament. As they frolicked around their hearts-desires, their attire gradually became dirtier by the moment and I was reminded of Bruce Willis’ vest in the Die-Hards. Eventually the girls emerged from a night in the forest; their delicate chiffon frocks ripped, muddied and bloodied as frantically they tried to beat their way out of the farce in which they had found themselves. Of the men of Athens, the moth was a favourite with the audience and caused several folk to nearly fall from their seats with mirth as he clambered up one of the ladders dangling his lamp, his face holding a constantly changing supply of ridiculous expressions.

The theatre in the round experience – or rather in the Tobacco factory’s case, the square - allows the audience to participate to a level not normally possible in a conventional theatre environment and when members of the cast whisked some of the front row up for a dance near the end of the performance no-one seemed the least bit surprised.

The trouble with theatre in the round is the proximity of your nearest neighbours, the fellow behind me had a prevailing cough which parted my hair every time his lungs vented forth and this spoilt my enjoyment somewhat. But at least I didn’t have to suffer a wet seat like the poor folks who returned from the interval to discover a drunken dolt staggering up the risers had spilt a whole glass of wine over their chairs and proceeded to mop it all up with their seat cushions. They only realised what had happened when the wine gradually seeped through to their clothing during the second act. Much fidgeting ensued.

There were the usual wonderful costumes to admire with an attention to detail the Tobacco Factory seem to have made their own. The audience being so close to the action allows for a far greater appreciation of both the costume detail and increased enjoyment of the actors wondrous expressions.

Titania’s dress with its matching scatter cushions is a fashion that may well catch on!