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The Guardian
4 days ago
- Entertainment
- The Guardian
Re-met by moonlight: A Midsummer Night's Dream returns to London's Bridge theatre
Hanging around during rehearsals for A Midsummer Night's Dream Photograph: Tristram Kenton/The Guardian Felicity Montagu, centre, plays Quince Emmanuel Akwafo (Bottom), David Moorst (Puck) and Dominic Semwanga (Flute) in rehearsals David Moorst with Susannah Fielding in the production, designed by Bunny Christie A Midsummer Night's Dream is an immersive production with some audience members up close and personal Emmanuel Akwafo, right, with JJ Feild, who doubles as Oberon and Theseus A Midsummer Night's Dream has movement direction by Arlene Phillips David Moorst (Puck), top, Divesh Subaskaran (Lysander) and Paul Adeyefa (Demetrius) There is co-direction and co-movement direction by James Cousins The costumes are designed by Christina Cunningham, with additional outfits by Bunny Christie Susannah Fielding and JJ Feild A Midsummer Night's Dream has lighting by Bruno Poet The composer is Grant Olding, with sound design by Paul Arditti Emmanuel Akwafo (Bottom) and Hilson Agbangbe (Starveling) in the production, with fight direction by Kate Waters The hair and make-up designer is Susanna Peretz A Midsummer Night's Dream is at the Bridge theatre, London, until 20 August
Irish Times
29-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Irish Times
A Midsummer Night's Dream at Blackwater Valley Opera Festival 2025: Vocally sure singing, but has a revamp muted Britten's orchestral magic?
A Midsummer Night's Dream Blackwater Valley Opera Festival ★★★☆☆ How things change. Back in 2010 the first Lismore Music Festival, today's Blackwater Valley Opera Festival , presented sure-fire repertoire – Bizet's Carmen, with Fiona Murphy heading the cast of 10 in the title role – in a marquee in the stable yard of Lismore Castle, with an ensemble of violin, accordion, guitar, double bass and percussion standing in for the colourful orchestral score. Move on 15 years and the festival is offering Benjamin Britten's A Midsummer Night's Dream with a cast of 19 and the Irish Chamber Orchestra conducted by David Brophy, with nearly five times as many musicians in the pit. A Midsummer Night's Dream: Piccolo Lasso, Ami Hewitt and Dominic Veilleux. Photograph: Frances Marshall The stage area is transformed this year. A raised platform now covers the entire performance area, not only allowing for greater freedom of movement but also creating a pit for the orchestra at floor level. (The tiny Jubilee Hall in Aldeburgh, where Britten's opera was first performed, in June 1960, also had to be enlarged and improved to accommodate the work.) The festival has made cosmetic improvements, too, with better-looking seating – which, strangely, is less comfortable because of the way it tilts forward – and black ceiling drapes, which give a softer interior appearance; sadly, they seem to do little or nothing to damp the percussive onslaught of rain on opening night on Wednesday. READ MORE So far so good. What about the production itself, directed by Patrick Mason and designed by Paul Keogan (set and lighting) and Catherine Fay (costumes)? It's a handsome, brightly lit show, the central, white-curtained bed about as close as it gets to any suggestion of night, and with different social levels distinguished through costumes of different periods. The actor Barry McGovern's black-clad Puck, wielding a white feather/wand/baton, falls somewhere between master of ceremonies, wizard and wannabe conductor. The soprano Ami Hewitt's beautifully bewigged Tytania sweeps and soars in style and manages a suppleness of vocal line that is otherwise in short supply. A Midsummer Night's Dream: Barry McGovern. Photograph: Frances Marshall A Midsummer Night's Dream: David Brophy and Irish Chamber Orchestra. Photograph: Frances Marshall The voice of the countertenor Iestyn Morris is too ethereal for his Oberon to make a real impression, sounding mostly insubstantial rather than atmospheric. The various couples – Christopher Cull and Gemma Ní Bhriain as Theseus and Hippolyta, Peter O'Reilly and Sarah Richmond as Lysander and Hermia, and Gregory Feldmann and Amy Ní Fhearraigh as Demetrius and Helena – are more engaging, vocally sure and with real tension in the conflicts they experience as a result of the love-inducing magic juice that mismatches them. A Midsummer Night's Dream: Amy Ní Fhearraigh, Gregory Feldmann, Peter O'Reilly, Sarah Richmond and Dominic Veilleux. Photograph: Frances Marshall A Midsummer Night's Dream: Ami Hewitt and Dominic Veilleux. Photograph: Frances Marshall The mechanicals are a damp squib when going through the preparations for their play within a play but altogether livelier in their performance of that comedy. The Bottom of the bass-baritone Dominic Veilleux revels in the comic opportunities afforded him as the ass Tytania is made to fall in love with. But, musically, there is something pallid about the performance. I'm not sure that this is entirely the fault of either singers or conductor. The voices don't carry well, and the orchestra is often so soft and muted that much of Britten's orchestral magic fails to register. My seat near the back may have played a part, but my primary suspicion is that the drapes just absorb too much sound in a space that's already severely acoustically challenged. A Midsummer Night's Dream is at Blackwater Valley Opera Festival , Lismore, Co Waterford, on Friday, May 30th, Saturday, May 31st, and Sunday, June 1st; the festival runs until Monday, June 2nd
