We round up the reviews for the return of Nicholas Hytner’s immersive production which will run at the theatre until the 20th August.
The Guardian: **** “One of the production’s greatest feats is switching the dialogue of fairy royalty Oberon (JJ Feild) and Titania (Susannah Fielding), which puts the power firmly in Titania’s hands. With the two actors doubling up as Theseus and Hippolyta, their motivations and memories are folded into one another, so that Hippolyta’s simmering rage at Theseus’s entrapment of her feeds Titania’s vengeful actions towards Oberon. The gender-flipping also gifts us Oberon’s riotous seduction of Bottom, a scene so joyful the whole audience seems drunk on delight.”
Time Out: **** “there’s enough textual rigour for the Bard-heads, but really it’s a production that just pelts you with cool stuff for three hours and wins your heart that way. If you’re not cooing at the virtuoso staging you’ll be gawping at the circus work or goggling at who is kissing who. And if all else fails, it ends with three giant inflatable moons dropped into the auditorium for us to pummel around. Not Hytner’s most meticulous hour, but you’d have to be dead not to enjoy it.”
WhatsOnStage: **** “Nicholas Hytner’s riotous production, returning to the Bridge Theatre after an absence of six years, keeps the laughs coming in a staging that focuses on the punkish nature of the play alongside its more ethereal aspects.”
All That Dazzles: ***** “Every choice in this production of A Midsummer Night’s Dream is exceptional. Not at all conventional with many of these choices quite daring, so it is a testament to the skill and foresight of all involved at how faultlessly everything works.”
The Standard: ***** “Nicholas Hytner’s acrobatic, erotic, playfully queered version of Shakespeare’s Dream seems even more delightful now than it was in 2019.”
The Telegraph: ***** “Nicholas Hytner’s production at the Bridge is complex, hilarious and utterly exhilarating.”
Theatre & Tonic: ***** “This version is extremely physical (with movement well designed by Arlene Phillips), and actions speak louder than words, with side glances, gestures, and facial expressions enhancing the story throughout. There are also several modern additions in terms of script that add to the comedy and provide an extra layer for many of the characters. “
The Reviews Hub: **** 1/2 “Arlene Phillips’ movement direction brims with wit, and the fight scenes are fantastic. Bunny Christie’s set is mostly beds of one sort or another. They rise, podium-like, from the stage as lullaby-singing fairies frolic above on white-shroud trapezes. There is a nod here, one supposes, to Peter Hall’s epoch-making, circus-set 1970s Dream production. One suspects this version will not end up being quite so influential as Hall’s, but you cannot fault it for laughs: Hytner’s forest fairy land is one you may feel reluctant to leave. This is an immensely welcome, hugely entertaining revival, perfectly timed for Pride month.”
The Stage: **** “Fizzy, gymnastic revival of the Shakespearean classic is irresistible.”
To book tickets visit: https://bridgetheatre.co.uk/whats-on/a-midsummer-nights-dream/