Published in the Guardian
Royal Lyceum, Edinburgh
Three stars
TOWARDS the start of Shakespeare's comedy, the fairy queen Titania
tells her lover Oberon how their quarrel has turned nature upside down.
"The seasons alter," she says, and the "mazed world … knows not which is
which." Much later, as the play nears its conclusion, would-be husband
Demetrius confesses that his love for Hermia is now "melted as the
snow".
Neither line usually catches the attention, but here in Matthew Lenton's production,
both leap out. This particular Midsummer Night's Dream is set in the
depths of winter: fairies in white toss snowflakes into the air, the
"rude mechanicals" huddle in their overcoats and, at moments of greatest
tension, blizzards blow up. To prove their mettle in front of Helena,
rivals Demetrius and Lysander strip down to their bare chests in a feat
of icy endurance.
It's an idea that minimises the play's sense of
feverish midsummer madness, but replaces it with a vision of rebirth and
renewal. With the return of sanity come spring flowers pushing through
the frozen stage and the promise of a fertile future. The image is
reinforced in a framing device, in which Jordan Young's excellent Bottom
sits at his wife's hospital bedside, waiting for signs of recovery. The
whole play is his dream – complete with the funny and surreal image of
his fellow mechanicals doubling as fairies during his transformation
into a donkey – and its resolution offers him personal hope.
Despite
these arresting ideas – often realised with striking beauty on Kai
Fischer's set – the production scores less well in making you care about
the lovers. Dressed in primary colours, like extras from a 1970s sci-fi
series, they do better at comedy than romance. Because we don't fall
in love with them ourselves, their eventual union carries no special
frisson.
© Mark Fisher, 2012
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