Review: A Midsummer Night's Dream (Golden Goose Theatre)

This week I found myself heading to the Golden Goose theatre to see The New Rep’s production of A Midsummer Night’s Dream, the last show in their first season, which coincidentally also marked the beginning of Lambeth Fringe festival.

Having seen all but one of The New Rep shows earlier in the year, I was excited to see many familiar faces in the cast from earlier shows, and also a few I hadn’t seen before. This was a large cast for the space and every single one of them was incredibly talented.  But I am getting ahead of myself…

The first thing I noticed as I walked into the auditorium was some of the cast were already on stage, there were fairy lights strung around, the seating had been changed a little, and also some instruments were in situ.  This was the first time I’ve seen a production here with live music included, and whilst it doesn’t surprise me in the slightest that some of this group of performers are also musicians, it seemed a fitting addition with the direction the show was taken in.

Directed by David Knight and Richard Pepper, the staging of this play was nothing short of sublime.  Surprising at times, entertaining, and impossible to watch without a huge smile on your face, it was a joy from start to finish.

The costumes (Annabel Bellew) were absolutely perfect for each character, the contrast between dark understated outfits for the mechanicals and brighter and more aesthetically striking outfits for the fairies and lovers was visually pleasing and set the tone for each scene.

The movement in the play (Kim Whatmore) was very well directed, the mechanicals' ensemble movements were so in sync and graceful it was a joy to watch, but each individual also had their moment - not to mention Kim Whatmore himself leaping completely over another standing cast member effortlessly at one point.

This was a typical New Rep production, in that everyone involved had a very high level of talent whether cast or crew (and many indeed both). The sense of teamwork in these shows comes across every time as it seems each person on stage has at least one moment to shine individually as well as when they are a part of the ensemble. 

Frederick Russell’s Demetrius and Kim Whatmore’s Lysander bounced off each other brilliantly, and their scenes with Helena (Evie Butler) and Hermia (Jamie Bunn) were performed well and interesting to watch, despite the fact Shakespeare is not my favourite writer, honestly - apologies to any of his fans who may be reading this.

Edward Neale was a striking Oberon, and Lucy Blott was absolutely stunning as Titania, graceful in costume as well as poise.  And then we have Puck (Andi Bickers) appearing on stage as if by magic and delivering the kind of performance I’ve learned to anticipate from them – incredible. Presenting with flowing cartwheels and cat-like movements, the sense of other-worldliness was strong here.

The mechanicals as a whole were very entertaining. But by the nature of the play, Bottom commands the attention of the audience. The performance from Jack Gogarty in this role was another one of my favourite things in the show, his comedic timing, expressions and delivery were hilarious and I personally got to the point that I was looking forward to him coming back on stage.  I have not laughed so much in a long time.

The New Rep was founded to bring classical theatre to a wider audience at an affordable price.  They have done this consistently well over their first season and I have enjoyed all of their shows greatly, but this production of A Midsummer Night’s Dream was my absolute favourite of all.

I have seen a lot productions of Shakespeare over the years, and I have never really loved any of them. Until now. The New Rep have created a show that can be enjoyed by ardent fans of Shakespeare and those who are not.  To say a production of a Shakespeare play is this good but your least favourite thing about it is the original writing sums this review up perfectly.

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

A Midsummer Night's Dream is showing at the Golden Goose Theatre until Saturday 27th September (including a matinee performance on Saturday). Tickets are available here.

All photos in this review are by Foxton Photos – I personally think they are stunning.

If you’d like to see my curtain call photos (sadly not for this show as my camera was having a moment) please click here to follow my Instagram account.