Review of A Midsummer’s Nights Dream, Festival 2012

A young cast giving it their all in one of the most popular and Shakespeare classics. Notice not only the speed of the costume swaps, fast enough to pay homage to the magical art of the quick change, but the slight of hand involved in the administration of fairy potions.

The wrapper for this play is a group of a school kids serving detention or English class (and, for some there is no difference) who find themselves roped into the play by a teacher with fairy like magic power.

The opening scene is an impressive act of timing. The click of fingers, the musical effect and the dramatic twist of an actor’s body being timed well enough to command your attention.

The opening scene is also important as it reveals the cast in its entirety. If Midsummer’s Nights Dream is a play wrapped around a play this Edinburgh Festival version is a play in a play wrapped around a play.

The Spiegeltent is not the easiest place to present Shakespeare to a crowd with high expectations. The stage is small, tiny, and the opening act amplifies this problem by pushing the actors up to the front and almost into single file by deploying three backdrop screens. I’m sure I wasn’t the only member of the audience pleased to see them rolled back.

Sound and acoustics might be the biggest challenge for the troupe. The George Square Gardens are incredibly popular, and therefore noisy and at times – times when silence would have been preferred – helicopters pass overhead. Of course, the helicopter experience will vary but this reviewers experience of A Midsummer’s Nights Dream in the Spiegeltent is symptomatic of the Edinburgh Festival Fringe.

This presentation of A Midsummer’s Nights Dream is fairly fast. It runs for just shy of 90 minutes but that works for me. I think it’s especially fitting for Shakespeare in a tent.

TEG Production’s version of A Midsummer’s Nights dream is classic festival theatre. It’s a little different but strong. You can play the talent spotting game with the actors – not to spot the talent, as they all have it, but to guess who’s going to make it big in the next few years.