A Midsummer Night’s Dream review – Nicholas Hytner’s raucous visions are back at the Bridge Theatre

There was a special episode of Blackadder commissioned for the millennium celebrations, in which Edmund travels back in time and meets Shakespeare, who he duly punches on behalf of all the school children who’ve wasted hours “trying to find one joke in A Midsummer Night’s Dream“.

I raise this to illustrate the point that it’s a comedy that is not always, well, very funny. But Nicholas Hytner’s riotous production, returning to the Bridge Theatre after an absence of six years, keeps the laughs coming in a staging that focuses on the punkish nature of the play alongside its more ethereal aspects.

Many of the cast have changed since 2019, with Susannah Fielding and JJ Feild replacing Gwendoline Christie and Oliver Chris as Hippolyta and Theseus, and Lyric panto stalwart Emmanuel Akwafo taking over Bottom from Hammed Animashaun. But there are some welcome returnees, including the acrobatic David Moorst as Puck, and Felicity Montagu as the Mechanicals’ scarf-tossing director Quince.

Hytner’s take is not one for purists, making several alterations to the text including mostly swapping the roles of Titania and Oberon around, so that it’s the latter who ends up getting a piece of Bottom’s ass. There are also many modern language additions, mostly for comic effect (such as when Puck labels Lysander a “selfish bastard”).

You could say it’s telling the production feels it has to take such radical steps in order to make Dream a truly entertaining experience. But I think it’s more that Hytner recognises that in order to energise the action for a promenade audience, a style he also used to scintillating effect in Guys and Dolls, it must be fast, free-flowing and at times pantomimic. The scenes play out on a series of Bunny Christie-designed platforms that rise up and down amid the groundlings, the fairies often swinging on sheets above their heads in a clear nod to Peter Brook.

And all those aforementioned school children will be relieved to hear there are plenty of jokes, including Bottom’s climactic death scene as Pyramus, which becomes a spectacular medley of film quotes. There are also songs, notably Beyoncé banger “Love On Top”, which soundtracks the love scene of Oberon and Bottom, who gyrate on a bed that moves around the auditorium perimeter, and a neatly timed use of Jimmy Cliff’s “I Can See Clearly Now” after Oberon has Puck’s spell lifted and promptly bursts out laughing (completing a tonal shift from his baleful opening exchanges with David Webber‘s Egeus).

The new cast acquit themselves well. Fielding, who opens proceedings encased in glass, emphasises the feminist fury underpinning Titania’s quest for vengeance over Oberon, who Feild imbues with a suitably alpha energy. Akwafo duly steals every scene he’s in, but honourable mention also goes to Molly Hewitt-Richards‘ Snug, both hilarious and honey-voiced. And it’s great to see a selection of strong professional debuts from Lily Simpkiss (Helena), Jem Rose (Snout) and Dominic Semwanga (Flute).

The production’s final key ingredient, in common with many great Dreams, is a proper sense of spectacle, culminating in the giant balls that bounce over the audience’s heads at the end. Although it perhaps doesn’t quite reach the cathartic heights of Guys and Dolls, there’s a full-throated and infectious sense of collective fun to proceedings that ensures we all take Puck’s proffered hand of friendship as we dance out into the night. Those shadows can wait for another day.