Shakespeare
Apr 28th, 2007 by Intermanaut
Just got back from “A Midsummer Night’s Dream” by RSC at The Swan in Stratford. Bl__dy hell! I studied “MacBeth” and “Romeo & Juliet” in school and hated it, but this was something else. It was incredible, performed in English and several South Asian languages, all interwoven, with acrobats, martial arts experts, and three brilliant musicians. There was a young kid in it, about 12 years old, who was absolutely mind-blowing – the rest were all adults, and this kid just fitted right in. Within a few minutes of the opening act I knew it was going to be brilliant, and it was.
Titiania,, Hermia and Helena were all gorgeous, and the girl playing one of the fairies was probably the most powerful woman I’ve ever seen – the acrobatics she performed were amazing, and she was quite tidy, too. For the women Theseus spent a lot of the time with his top off.
Bottom was hilarious – a bit, bellowing man with a very cheeky face for the part. Puck was brilliantly portrayed, which can’t have been easy for a bloke who spent most of the performance in what could only be described as a red nappy.