If you aren't familiar with the plot of the play, maybe have a look on Wikipedia before reading the rest of this! =]
It was absolutely brilliant, and I don't mean that lightly. Admittedly, the only adaptations of the play I've seen are the 1999 film, the 2005 BBC modern-day TV version, and the 2016 BBC TV film - so I have very little (and no stage productions) to compare it to. There are probably many very good versions. But while Shakespeare's themes are timeless, things that 16th-century audiences may have found hilarious are, nowadays, largely no longer considered very funny, and at best only elicit a mild sense of amusement. This production, directed by Nicholas Hytner, was ingeniously re-imagined to both highlight the darkness in a comedy that is usually staged with lots of lightness and summer and magic, and return it to just that - a comedy that has the audience nearly crying with genuine cheek-hurting belly laughs.
It started with a sobering reminder of the patriarchal society in which the play is set. A psalm-chanting chorus group, the men and women separated, lead the way as Hippolyta - former queen of the Amazons, captured by Theseus and due to be his bride - is paraded in a glass cage through an Athens where the female dress code is puritanical: long, plain, shapeless dresses, and headscarves. Hippolyta stands tall and regal, icily answering stern Theseus' words about their upcoming wedding with the words he wants to hear but in a tone of voice that makes her scorn for him clear.
With the arrival of Egeus, Hermia, Lysander and Demetrius, the subsequent conversation reminds the audience that in ancient Greece, the male heads of household literally had the power of life and death over the females in their families, able to have them executed for disobedience. The women's clothing and obvious oppression also brings to mind The Handmaid's Tale, and that story's scary resemblance to society in some places in the world today. Hippolyta watches the exchange silently, directing unseen glares towards the men and eyes full of pain and empathy towards the younger woman. She wordlessly presses her hand to the glass when a distressed Hermia comes near, wanting to help and comfort but as powerless as in her own situation.
With the arrival of Egeus, Hermia, Lysander and Demetrius, the subsequent conversation reminds the audience that in ancient Greece, the male heads of household literally had the power of life and death over the females in their families, able to have them executed for disobedience. The women's clothing and obvious oppression also brings to mind The Handmaid's Tale, and that story's scary resemblance to society in some places in the world today. Hippolyta watches the exchange silently, directing unseen glares towards the men and eyes full of pain and empathy towards the younger woman. She wordlessly presses her hand to the glass when a distressed Hermia comes near, wanting to help and comfort but as powerless as in her own situation.
The NT-Live presenter who spoke to cinema viewers before the play started gave away the twist beforehand, and while I didn't mind that too much I'm a little disappointed that I was deprived of that startling and very interesting surprise. The twist - what made this production different - was that Nick Hytner decided to switch the roles, and therefore the gender- and power-dynamics, of Oberon and Titania. In the traditional version, the fairy king and queen are estranged and arguing over an orphaned human child who Titania has taken as her ward and page-boy; Oberon is the jealous husband who wants to take the child for his own page-boy, and drugs his wife so that she becomes infatuated with the first creature she sees, giving him time to take the boy and the pleasure of seeing her make a fool of herself. In this version, Oberon is the child's guardian and Oliver Chris plays the fairy king as a good man who sincerely loves his ward (it's easy to interpret that he's his father) - he is the one who's drugged and falls for Bottom. Titania is the one who wants to take the boy, the one who calls the shots and whom Puck serves.
Puck - also known as Robin Goodfellow - has always been my favourite character in this play, probably because I've always had a love of fairies and faeries (there is a difference!), nature spirits, folklore, and magic, and in more recent years in psychology too. In this, he was played excellently by David Moorst as a young, camp, and creaturely delinquent - by far my favourite version of him out of the adaptations I've seen. The whole cast were brilliant, though, and I wish I knew how to talk about them more. Gwendoline Christie was great, I don't think she would have been right to portray a traditional gossamer-winged Titania but she really suited the role she did have.
Maybe it's because I've only ever seen film or TV adaptations, which are shorter than stage productions and have to cut things out, that this was the first time I really properly noticed the other characters, that they stood out for me - that they were brought to life. Bottom absolutely stole the show. The other Rude Mechanicals were great. Helena is less a jealous and mean girl who betrays her best friend, and more a heartbroken, devoted, and courageous young woman (this was the first time I realised that Demetrius had been in love with Helena before turning his attention to Hermia). It's true that every time you read or watch something again, you notice or learn something you didn't before.
While I'd not noticed the dark tones underlying the Titania-Bottom situation before (I'm not really able to 'read between the lines' and notice unsaid things unless they're pointed out to me), I never found it even mildly amusing, either. But the role reversal in this production had me laughing out loud, which is a rarity. Bottom's transformation into a donkey is simply the addition of some ears and a slightly bray-ish laugh, rather than the more complete and ridiculous full head, hooves, and tail. As one reviewer put it, Animashaun's brilliant portrayal of the weaver is one of "big-hearted comic nonsense". When Oberon suddenly becomes infatuated with him, he could very easily just be like "no thanks" and the second half of the play could have been a completely different story, but instead, after a minute of initial shock, Bottom happily accepts and returns the attention. Extravagance and hilarity ensues, and in a joyful, love-is-love, affirmative and inclusive way.
It would have been amazing to be a member of the standing audience in the theatre's pit. The play was performed in the round - the stage in the centre with the audience surrounding it - and the staging was dynamic and immersive. It wasn't traditional. Platforms and ivy-strewn beds rose up from the floor, props and scenery (like Oberon and Bottom's bathtub) were run by crew members through the audience, and fairies frolicked acrobatically from aerial silks. Audience members were drawn into a circle dance at one point. The soundtrack of a few modern songs helped create a party-like atmosphere at times, and a few lines that Shakespeare certainly didn't write ("Unlock your calendar, I beseech you.", "Not now babe, I'm tired."), and a little bit of improv, added to the laughter.
There's so much I could say about this. Or rather, there's a lot I haven't said, which other reviewers have said and I've gone "Oh yeah!" at, but I don't want to spend ages trying to put something into my own words and then finding somewhere to put it. Other people were able to pick up on things I didn't, and are able to use more descriptive and summarising words than I am, and if you're interested then just look online for reviews. They're all certainly shorter than this is, haha.
It's such a shame that they don't make all filmed theatre productions available for download after the run has ended. They could probably make a lot of money from it. I would happily pay for a DVD or digital download of this, and be able to watch it again and again and again for years to come! Maybe I should email them and ask. Even if I never see this version again, I probably won't be able to watch the play in quite the same way from now on.
Maybe it's because I've only ever seen film or TV adaptations, which are shorter than stage productions and have to cut things out, that this was the first time I really properly noticed the other characters, that they stood out for me - that they were brought to life. Bottom absolutely stole the show. The other Rude Mechanicals were great. Helena is less a jealous and mean girl who betrays her best friend, and more a heartbroken, devoted, and courageous young woman (this was the first time I realised that Demetrius had been in love with Helena before turning his attention to Hermia). It's true that every time you read or watch something again, you notice or learn something you didn't before.
While I'd not noticed the dark tones underlying the Titania-Bottom situation before (I'm not really able to 'read between the lines' and notice unsaid things unless they're pointed out to me), I never found it even mildly amusing, either. But the role reversal in this production had me laughing out loud, which is a rarity. Bottom's transformation into a donkey is simply the addition of some ears and a slightly bray-ish laugh, rather than the more complete and ridiculous full head, hooves, and tail. As one reviewer put it, Animashaun's brilliant portrayal of the weaver is one of "big-hearted comic nonsense". When Oberon suddenly becomes infatuated with him, he could very easily just be like "no thanks" and the second half of the play could have been a completely different story, but instead, after a minute of initial shock, Bottom happily accepts and returns the attention. Extravagance and hilarity ensues, and in a joyful, love-is-love, affirmative and inclusive way.
It would have been amazing to be a member of the standing audience in the theatre's pit. The play was performed in the round - the stage in the centre with the audience surrounding it - and the staging was dynamic and immersive. It wasn't traditional. Platforms and ivy-strewn beds rose up from the floor, props and scenery (like Oberon and Bottom's bathtub) were run by crew members through the audience, and fairies frolicked acrobatically from aerial silks. Audience members were drawn into a circle dance at one point. The soundtrack of a few modern songs helped create a party-like atmosphere at times, and a few lines that Shakespeare certainly didn't write ("Unlock your calendar, I beseech you.", "Not now babe, I'm tired."), and a little bit of improv, added to the laughter.
There's so much I could say about this. Or rather, there's a lot I haven't said, which other reviewers have said and I've gone "Oh yeah!" at, but I don't want to spend ages trying to put something into my own words and then finding somewhere to put it. Other people were able to pick up on things I didn't, and are able to use more descriptive and summarising words than I am, and if you're interested then just look online for reviews. They're all certainly shorter than this is, haha.
It's such a shame that they don't make all filmed theatre productions available for download after the run has ended. They could probably make a lot of money from it. I would happily pay for a DVD or digital download of this, and be able to watch it again and again and again for years to come! Maybe I should email them and ask. Even if I never see this version again, I probably won't be able to watch the play in quite the same way from now on.
Beautifully written as usual. You really do have a wonderful way with the written word.
ReplyDeleteThank you Simon! :) xx
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