Pyramus makes an ass of himself in front of Titania in A Midsummer Night’s Dream

Fairy Fantastic

Drifting away with A Midsummer Night’s Dream

It seems A Midsummer Night’s Dream has been such a solid choice to open Langham Court’s 80th season that even the weather is cooperating. A talented young cast, dynamic direction and a stellar set all make for a thoroughly enjoyable Shakespeare experience.

The story of a love triangle (well, love rectangle, really) between young Hermia (Melissa Blank), Lysander (Henry Skey), Demetrius (Ryan Say) and Helena (Lindsay Alley) and the bumbling attempts of a crew of craftsmen (led by Pyramus, played by James Roney) to stage a play for the king cross paths one evening in an enchanted wood, due to a plot by the mischievous fairy king Oberon (Evan Roberts). Determined to both sort the lovers’ quarrel and steal away a charming young prince the fairy queen Titania (Caroline MacKenzie) has been given as a gift, Oberon sends his minion Puck (Graeme Nathan) out with a special flower designed to charm people to fall in love with the first thing they see when they awake. Needless to say, the imp makes a couple of mistakes, but all wrongs are righted before the play’s end.

First-time Langham director Valerie Chatterton ably handles the large cast, adopting a very physical style that has the performers literally running around in circles onstage at some point. While the treatment borders on slapstick, it works for this over-the-top, almost farcical play. Here’s hoping we see her work on Langham’s stage again in the future.

The cast is far too large to comment on all of the performances (21 in all, including some lovely young fairies who also provided harp and flute interludes), but highlights included Roney’s turn as the bombastic, over-the-top Pyramus and the great chemistry between the quartet of young lovers. While Nathan’s Puck was very dynamic, often incorporating gymnastics into his performance, the acting itself wasn’t quite as strong as the other young cast members.

But while performances were strong, the shining star of this production would have to be Bill Adams’ stunning set. The fold-out design transformed the stage from temple to cave to enchanted wood with ease, and when the set opened up onto the forest, the opening-night audience let out a collective gasp and a round of applause. The use of multiple layers of trees, scrims and even a climbable perch lent itself well to Chatterton’s direction, and Karrie Wolfe’s lighting design and Margaret McCulloch’s costumes (particularly that of Oberon) made the forest feel very surreal.

It’s quite obvious that an immense amount of time and effort went into this production and it has payed off in spades for Langham. A Midsummer Night’s Dream is an enjoyable, accessible production (with the great set and costumes, plenty of silly moments and large number of young performers, this would be a good one to bring the kids to) and a great start to the theatre’s 80th season.

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A Midsummer Night’s Dream
To October 11
Langham Court Theatre, 805 Langham
Tickets $16-$18 • 250-384-2142