Thursday 11th February until Saturday 20th March 2010 @ Tobacco Factory Theatre, Bristol

These are momentous times for Bristol’s renowned theatre company, Shakespeare At The Tobacco Factory: Two years ago they had their first guest director in the form of Jonathan Miller’s Hamlet, last year was their tenth anniversary season, six months ago saw their first ever co-production as they put on Uncle Vanya at the Bristol Old Vic and this year they are revisiting one of the bard’s plays for the very first time with A Midsummer Night’s Dream.

2010 finds the company in rude health and as they have already put this production on once (it was part of their first ever season), this time round they have been more willing to creep outside their comfort zone and have been more daring with it. The fresh approach is immediately obviously in the show’s design; no leafy or mossy beds, no pointed ears, twisting branches or overgrown vegetation here, the enchanted forest our characters get lost in is a dark, urban one: Trees are reborn as proud metallic ladders and the fairy monarchs sport leathers, steel toe-capped boots and decorative metal plates. It effectively conjures the sinister potential of the forest but is also used well to harness the show’s playful charm.

The first half of this production is absorbing but it is the second that really shines. You get completely swept away as the quarrelling lovers reach their climax and the Fairy Queen falls for the donkey but it is the twenty minutes when the hapless players perform to the newlyweds that completely steals the show; it’s an absolute roar. I don’t think they could have possibly squeezed one more ounce of humour out of the script here. From Alan Coveney’s coy moon to the reinvention of the lover’s wall with Felix Hayes managing to provoke gales of laughter with just the shudder of a lip, I was exhausted from laughing so hard. And theirs are by no means the only standout performances: Byron Mondhal is a scream as Francis Flute, Ffion Jolly is superb as the lost-in-love Hermia but possibly the brightest jewel in this sparkling cast is Rebecca Pownall. She reigns in the swinging tempers and fates of Helena and perfectly balances the audience’s sympathies with the laughs. The King of the Fairies’ portrayal is a little intense and though Puck’s playfulness feels a little forced, these are just minor criticisms of what is a truly fabulous production.

www.sattf.org.uk

Matt Whittle