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Theatre listings >
A Midsummer Night's
Dream
Playwright - William Shakespeare
Director + Music - David Mark Thomson
Designer - Karen Tennant
Costume Designer - Megan Baker
Lighting Designer - Paul Sorley
Company - Brunton Theatre Company
Venue - Brunton Theatre Musselburgh Nr Edinburgh 20 min by bus
0131 665 2240
Dates - Preview
31 Jan at 7:30pm £1
1 - 16 Feb at 7:30pm (no performances Sun) £8.50 (£4.50)
Matinees 9 + 13 at 2:30pm £6.50 (£4.50) Apex tickets
half price for 1 + 2 Feb if bought by week in advance.
Run Time - nearly 3 hours including interval
Reviewer - Brett Sheffield
Grimes gives uproarious delight
As the ship of funding slowly sinks beneath them*, Brunton Theatre Co.
keep on playing, presenting a little Shakespeare for their penultimate
performance. A Midsummer Night's Dream is probably my favourite of Big
Bill's plays, and Brunton's delivery of it is the funniest I've seen to
date. Mixed up couples, meddling faeries, marvellous Mechanicals, magic
and mayhem - if you don't already know the story, hie thee to Musselburgh
and see it for yourself. Director Mark Thomson demonstrates that Shakespeare
can be comprehensible to the newcomer, while still remaining true to the
script.
Set designer Karen Tennent takes a risk with what at first may appear
to be a bare metallic set, but good light work from Paul Sorely and a
strong cast soon fill the space and justify the design. The set's reflective
properties allow for almost instant scene changes and also more subtle
shifts of mood as the lovers lose themselves in the forest. More work
could be done with the background music to really finish the effect. There
is another excellent cast from Brunton, supported by the Brunton Youth
Theatre as the playful janitorial faeries whose main function appears
to be to clean up after other actors - something here doesn't seem fair
to me.
Going over the top to make a top Bottom is Peter Grimes, making
an ass of himself to the uproarious delight of the audience. His hilarious,
HEE-HAW roll in the hay with Titania, Nicola Burnett Smith, cracked
a few faces that I suspect hadn't seen a smile in years. Katrina Bryan
wrings out feeling and mirth, continuing her run of stunning professional
performances as the petulant and much beset Helena. Keith Warwick is
an energetic though somewhat less fleet-footed Puck in clomping great
clodhoppers, and whose delicate delivery of the play's final monologue
brings the play to close.
© Brett Sheffeild 1 February 2002
* In January 2002 Brunton Theatre Company was not been reprived by SAC
from their demise as a building based company, after several years of
being supported by East Lothian Council after the SAC withdrew their grant.
This is despite producing wonderful Shakespeare's, New and Existing plays,
musicals and Pantos. See Brunton
for past reviews. There are appeals for this decision to be reconsidered
being made to the Minister for the Arts in the Scottish Executive.
Their last production will possibly be
Lachlan's Choice
Hotel - Brunton Theatre Company In Simon Little's play about a mutinational,
a hotel, a manager with new ideas all set in the summer of World Cup Finals.
Tours after
Preview 21 March all tickets £1
22 - 30 March £8:50/£4:50 Matinee£6:50/£4:50
at 2:30pm on 23 March
Apex tickets half price for 22 & 23 March if bought week in advance
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