Photo Credit: Bill Jackson
A magical evening of laughter and romance – don’t miss this wonderful show!
Red Rose Chain Theatre Company have been performing their annual Theatre in the Forest every summer for the past 25 years – this is a staggering achievement and one to be celebrated.
This year they have chosen the perfect Shakespeare play in the perfect setting. A Midsummer Night’s Dream is often seen as the Bard’s most accessible play in terms of story and language. The beauty of Shakespeare’s words are still there, the text is stuffed with lines that have turned into expressions we use now in everyday life, and the magical tale of young lovers in the forest, mischievous fairies and Bottom and his friends rehearsing a play has so much life and laughter children as well as adults enjoy it. This was certainly the case with this production at Red Rose’s summer home at Sutton Hoo. There were lots of children and families in the audience enthralled by the storytelling, song and exquisite puppets.
Photo Credit: Bill Jackson
The cast of 7 play multiple parts in the play but with clever use of costume ( spots for Demetrius and Helena, stripes for Hermia and Lysander), accents and entrances and exits it’s never confusing and it’s very common in A Midsummer Night’s Dream for the same actors to play Theseus and Oberon and Hippolyta and Titania anyway.
Jack Heydon plays Theseus and the Fairy King Oberon firstly with a grand swagger as the lusty Duke of Athens who can’t wait to marry Hippolyta, and then as Oberon he is devilishly naughty wanting to play tricks on Titania. Emily Jane Kerr plays Hippolyta hilariously, reminding me of the Germanic Baroness from Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, and as Titania she is equally funny and sexy, when duped by Puck she revels in seducing Bottom who has become as ass!
Photo Credit: Bill Jackson
Vincent Moisy plays a dark and brooding Demetrius but he is also a fine Bottom, and as with all the Mechanicals, a lot of the plays humour comes from these scenes. The other half of this pairing of lovers is Ailis Duff as Helena, who plays the part with wonderful indignation at being spurned, and in her mind, ridiculed and makes a feisty opponent to Hermia. She also excels as Quince the harrassed director of the Mechanicals play.
Evangeline Dickson is ‘though she be but little, she is fierce’ as lovestruck Hermia, who makes dewy eyes at Lysander yet is a much more modern girl when she is defiant against her father. She’s also a classic cowardly lion as Snug, one of the Bottom’s mechanicals in the play within the play and creates lots of laughs.
Photo Credit: Bill Jackson
Lysander, played by Ted Newborn, is energetic, dashing and daringly suggests he and Hermia run away together before he falls foul of Puck and Oberon’s plans going awry.
Rei Mordue as Puck is as spritely as you would wish the cheeky spirit to be, full of mischief with a twinkle in her eye. Rei also plays Ageus at the start and end of the play, bent over using sticks to walk, it is a great contrast to her as Puck dashing from place to place.
Photo Credit: Bill Jackson
The setting could not be more magical for this play; a still summers evening with the trees in the background, fairy lights twinkling as the sun goes down, the backdrop is as much a part of the play as the play itself, and part of the charm of Red Rose performing outside for the last 25 summers.
Joanna Carrick, artistic director of the whole company, director of this piece and writer of the original songs, which added so much charm and texture in the show, uses the whole playing area brilliantly. Every aisle is an entrance and exit from behind the audience, through the forest or up on a raised platform. You felt immersed in the show and the actors talk to the audience and involved us all the time. We were part of the company and the action.
Photo Credit: Bill Jackson
Best of all for me were the puppets, by Nick Barnes Puppets. Mustardseed bouncing like a giant 70s spacehopper, Cobweb striding magnificently through the woods, Peasblossom with a face like a grumpy cabbage sprouting petals of purple and pink and multi-coloured Moth in oversized glasses fluttering on Titania arm. They were a sheer delight and I found myself gasping and clapping like a child again when they came on.
If you would like a magical, fun evening full of laughs, romance and silliness then take the whole family along, pack a picnic and go and see this superb show. Take a blanket though – it can get chilly when the sun goes down.
Red Rose Theatre Company’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream is on until 24th August – to book visit their website Red Rose Theatre or call 01473 603388
SUFFOLK THEATRE 