A Midsummer Night’s Dream

Some Are Loving

A Midsummer Night’s Dream

by William Shakespeare

Richmond Shakespeare Society at the Fountain Gardens, York House, Twickenham until 19^th July

Review by Ralph Stanhope

This year’s Richmond Shakespeare Society’s summer open-air production was A Midsummer Night’s Dream, and a somewhat unusual one in that it was set in the 1970’s, although there seemed no specific reason why. So we take that as given.

Nevertheless, in general, the pace was very good; particularly in the wonderful scene where the four lovers, having suffered the mistakes of Puck leading to a terrific physical quarrel which, although at times became over-strident, was exceptionally well done. Scenes moved immediately into scenes; the action never faltered, and the cast deserved their obvious attention to this important part of any production.

There were some outstanding performances. Firstly, Alexandra Upton as Helena, who was in perfect control all the time, noticeably in the scene with the other lovers where Puck gets it wrong again and they all get the wrong partner. This scene can, and sometimes nearly did, go OTT, but Alexandra was outstanding here. In her only solo speech in Act One, she immediately established her personality and intentions as they stood at that time. She had clearly studied her part with great success. I await her Beatrice!

In fairness to the girls, their suitors do not have so interesting parts, but they gave good accounts of themselves, particularly JJ DeWitt as Demetrius. His performance gained in maturity and we found a stronger lover by the end.

Another meritorious performance was that of Julian Smith as Bottom. In some productions Bottom can come across as over self-opinionated and irritating by wanting to play every part, and I have seen a few productions where he bullies the others, but Julian cleverly handled this and established a bond with his fellow actors, which gave the scene near to the play-within-a-play where they are in real sorrow at his absence real veracity. His scenes with Titania included several “neighs” in disguise as a horse which were splendid. His final speech, once the horses head had been removed, showed a strength of character in that he took life as it came.

Other performances of considerable merit included Anna Piggott as Quince. She has splendid timing and knows how to play real comedy: as everything goes wrong in trying to rehearse, she desperately and staunchly carries on regardless. All the others in what the programme refers to as The Actors over-60 Drama Group carried themselves off well in the presentation before Duke Theseus, but the gem was Denise Tomlinson as Snout who portrays the Wall in the entertainment by some beautiful scene-stealing.

“There are no small parts … etc”, but Egeus is not a large one. who has a long speech right at the beginning, and is not a very nice character. Francis Abbott got this absolutely right and got his come-uppance when he had to play a dog on four legs in the Pyramus and Thisbe play. Finally, I should like to give my congratulations to all the Fairies, who fitted perfectly into the situation throughout. They were not “extras”, they meant something and we enjoyed seeing them.

Having given the accolades, when it come to some performances, there are some problems, the main one being loud delivery, at times quite shouty, and done with very little subtlety. As a result some of the best lines, many of which are very funny, disappeared. An example is Oberon’s “wake when some vile thing is near”, which should get a big laugh but didn’t.

The first half resulted in hardly any laughter and, although the second act did improve, it was only the final Pyramus and Thisbe play that really got to the audience and was quite rapturously received. It deserved this, as it was very inventive and extremely funny. We needed it badly, and we were not disappointed.

There was no actual set as such, but only a basic raised stage, with many entrances and exits from the side of the Gardens. However, these were well-handled by the cast, who had quite a distance to travel from the rear of the audience. Stage lighting, which was only really necessary when it started to get dark, was very basic, and needed more attention, as did cheek microphones, which often went from “forte” to virtual “pianissimo”.

The Seventies setting does not really do the production justice. There is no specific style in in that decade that can fit into a beautifully written period play. Subtlety also is a vital factor, and was sadly lacking. The play as it was originally written, suffered somewhat.

Ralph Stanhope, July 2025

Photography by Pete Messum