Arguably one of Shakespeare’s most famous comedies, ‘A Midsummer Night’s Dream’ is a tangled web of love, fairies and mistaken identity. The play has been a popular choice amongst Bradfield’s Theatre Directors over the years, having previously been performed in 1916, 1938, 1963, 1978, 1995 and 2016.
Our production this year focused on the 1920s, explaining the Victorian mindset of a woman being her father’s property. Given the beautiful setting of Bradfield, and the stunning grounds that our Head Gardener, Simon Myhill and his team work endlessly on, it was easy to transport the original setting of Ancient Athens to the English country gardens of the 1920s. The lovers became bat and racquet players – Hermia and Lysander are tennis players, Helena is a female golfer and Demetrius favours cricket.
The Mechanicals were also given a 1920s makeover, in careers as well as era, elevated somewhat from the working class ‘workmen’ they are painted as, to more middle-class professionals. The group had some input on their characters, with the tailor becoming a designer, the tinker becoming a jewellery maker, the joiner remaining a joiner and ‘Peter’ Quince becoming ‘Rita’ Quince – a carpenter turned interior designer/part-time playwright. It was a bonus having a talented musician playing Flute the Bellows Mender, and so Flute became a musical instrument restorer.
Oberon and Titania are seen as ethereal, magical and mystical but behind the airy charm, the acts that they undertake are anything but fairy-like! Paddy (A) and Jemima (I) understood the assignment, and Ginny (M), playing a more devilish Puck, melted into the background as Oberon’s henchwoman.
With a cast of this size, it did mean utilising charity shops to create the costumes with fairies in flapper dresses and character shoes. We were lucky enough as well, to be able to use the actual Donkey ears from the 2024 RSC version of ‘A Midsummer Night’s Dream’ for Tom (H)!
