London Unattached
A Midsummer Night’s Dream – Figure at Opera Holland Park
Figure at Opera Holland Park this year is staging a delightful and endearing production of Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream. While audiences in the 19th Century may have been privileged enough to enjoy A Midsummer Night’s Dream with Mendelssohn’s Overture and Incidental Music, it’s rare today to get that opportunity. Partly because it requires an orchestra and partly because it adds to the run time (the overture is 12 minutes long). The chance to hear the music played on ‘instruments modelled on those used in the 19th century is even rarer. In the pit, natural horns and an ophicleide (yes I had to check – it’s an early form of the tuba), together with classical timpani, strings, wind, trumpet and trombone, made up the band directed by Frederic Waxman.
The ensemble at its best was beautifully balanced with an almost ethereal sound quality, a softer and more detailed articulation than a contemporary orchestra. It wasn’t perfect – at times sometimes slightly out of synch, at times with fluffed notes in the brass section. But, playing classical horns without valves is a particular challenge and the overall sound quality more than made up for that.
The staging – long white fabric carefully draped to create columns for the scenes in Athens which could be transformed for later play in the forest – was stunning. I loved the timeless quality of the costumes and the use of colour and monochrome to differentiate fairies, Athenians and the band of artisan/actors. Hermia, with a brilliant white crinoline cage over her leather trousers, Puck, in a multicoloured ribbon strewn jacket and Titania/Hippolyta in elegant Hepburnesque dresses stood out. The costumes worked perfectly for the very dynamic production, where the opening scene has Puck cast a spell to paralyse all on stage before releasing them and where artisan/actors are required to cartwheel across the stage in the Dance of the Clowns towards the end.
The greatest challenge of the evening was a somewhat incongruous but very necessary use of amplification for the actors. Without the amplification, as we discovered when, in a few moments, it didn’t work, those of us at the back of the auditorium could barely hear the lines being delivered. With the amplification, some of the actors were, for much of the time, incomprehensible. Anna Leong Brophy as Titania/Hippolyta stood out for her beautifully paced and articulate delivery, and Ray Fearon as Oberon/Theseus was a good match, if at times perhaps a little rushed. It was particularly difficult to follow Jay Mailer’s exuberant delivery of Bottom, though we loved his acting and Joelle Taylor’s Puck, wonderfully characterised, was largely incomprehensible.
The quartet of lovers played by Hannah Rose Caton as a rather charming Hermia, Eleanor Sutton as a brilliantly frustrated Helena, Emmanuel Olusanya as a credibly gentlemanly Lysander and Johan Munir as the stubborn Demetrius, were totally convincing.
The Artisan/Actors/Fairies were memorable in the best possible way – the lofty Mateus Daniel playing Thisbe as flute, the petite power of Gail Sixsmith as Quince/Egeus, the dour Scottish Starvling playing the Moon, William Edden as Snug a kind of soft-toy lion and Susie Coutts as Snout, the Wall all made their mark.
Rowan Pierce as the first fairy soprano, had brilliant projection and a beautiful bell-like tone, while Madison Nonoa as the second fairy soprano was a good match if without quite the same level of projection. The chorus, supplemented with children from Theatre Peck Academy Glee Club was immaculate in everything except the rather incongruous performance of Marvin Gaye’s ‘Let’s Get It On’. Appropriate maybe, as a disruptor, but not delivered with anything like the same level of professionalism as other musical moments.
Last night’s performance was not perfect and yet utterly charming. Open-air productions of ‘A Midsummer Night’s Dream’ always have a special magic and Holland Park is a fantastic setting, with peacocks calling in the distance as the sun sets. Figure and Frederick Waxman paid so much attention to authenticity in their musical delivery against this wonderful backdrop. The staging, directed by Sam Rayner, had a brilliance with notable dynamism such that movement on stage really did reflect the lines being spoken. Simple, elegant and effective design from Emma Hollows and Edward Saunders (lighting) set the scene brilliantly.
Given the running time of 2 hours 45 minutes, we’d have liked to see the show start half an hour earlier but that’s a minor detail. We’ll look forward to more from Figure in the future.
A Midsummer Night’s Dream A play by William Shakespeare with orchestral, vocal, and choral music by Felix Mendelssohn.
The Up Coming
A Midsummer Night’s Dream at Opera Holland Park
A charming production by historical performance ensemble Figure, A Midsummer Night’s Dream is an enjoyable rendition of Shakespeare’s comedy that features a lot of movement to highlight the humour, accentuated by Felix Mendelssohn’s angelic music, which was inspired by the play. While it does many things just about right, occasional technical issues sadly mar the overall experience.
It’s not very frequent nowadays that Mendelssohn’s music – the overture of which was composed when he was just 17 – is played alongside the play, but it does work well: conducted by musical director Frederick Waxman, the orchestra creates an effective soundtrack to the script. At times this can lead to a competition between hearing the music and the dialogue on stage, but it generally adds to the enjoyment of the piece.
The cast are all likeable and perform their parts well. Ray Fearon’s Oberon is a powerful, steady force to be reckoned with; Joelle Taylor’s Puck is delightfully mischievous. The four lovers – Eleanor Sutton as Helena, Emmanuel Olusanya as Lysander, Hannah Rose Caton as Hermia and Johan Munir as Demetrius – are all enchanting. Jay Mailer’s Bottom is hilariously over-the-top, although the intensity of the delivery sometimes veers towards shouting. This aspect is particularly complicated by the addition of microphones.
Speaking of which, being an outdoor theatre, it is understandable that the actors would perform with microphones. However, this does make understanding them difficult now and again, due to the prevalence of audio artefacts, of which there are not few; even worse are the occasional dropouts in pivotal moments, resulting in missed lines altogether. Though these technical issues don’t interfere with the performances themselves, they do have an impact on the audience’s general experience of the show.
Thankfully the rest of the production by director Sam Rayner is imaginative and lively. The staging is subtle, making use of Opera Holland Park’s ramped space around the orchestra in the middle. The costumes by designer Emma Hollows are beautiful: the members of Oberon’s and Titania’s court wear leaf-coloured waistcoats and dresses that are particularly apt for the setting.
As such, Figure’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream is a partial success – a captivating cast with excellent comedic timing lends itself well to an entertaining evening.