'A Midsummer Night's Dream' by William Shakespeare
26 August 2021
Of all the touring companies presenting summer open-air theatre, I think we have seen more Chapterhouse productions than any of the others. I’ve reviewed 8 of their performances here, including my first ever experience of watching ‘A Midsummer Night’s Dream’ (reviewed here in July 2009). Last Friday we saw the latest Chapterhouse production of ‘A Midsummer Night’s Dream’ in the beautiful setting of the Swiss Garden at Shuttleworth, Old Warden. It was a lovely evening and a really enjoyable performance - a straightforward but high-quality presentation of the play with some excellent acting. But the highlight (ironically) was the moment, minutes from the end, when the power was lost and the floodlights went out, plunging us all into darkness. The audience instantly produced torches and mobile phones to illuminate the stage and the actors finished their comic dance, humming in place of the recorded music. Puck’s epilogue, which begins “If we shadows have offended …” got a big laugh and then we picked up our garden chairs and the remnants of our picnics and carefully found our way out of the Swiss Garden by torchlight after a magical evening.
posted by Robin Simpson @ 4:42 pm
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