Last night I went to see the National Theatre Live’s production of A Midsummer Nights Dream from the Bridge Theatre at the cinema.
This “gender bending” production saw the roles of Oberon and Titania swapped around – leading the King of the Fairy’s to have a sweet (and rather sexy) fling with the donkey translated Bottom!
Briefly too the four star crossed lovers all swapped affection to each other, leaving both boys and girls in brief but passionate embraces of love. Other roles were also swapped from male to female making the entire play gloriously inclusive in gender, ethnicity, dialect, shape and form.
The architects of the magical frolics were of course Titania – Queen of the Fairies played by the towering Gwendoline Christie (Game of Thrones) and her mischievous – and gloriously Yorkshire – servitor Puck – played by David Moorst (Peterloo) in the evenings stand out performance.
Puck has always been one of my favourite characters but this muscular and aerobatic performance was one of my absolute favourites, Mr Moorst beautiful Yorkshire tones (something I have been picked up on more than once in my career – and not in a good way) sounding beautiful when used to unfold Shakespeare’s poetry.
What stuck me amongst this gloriously funny, hip and modern production was the way in which the invisible fairy were seen as walking amongst mankind – who were of course oblivious to their presence – because of course this is EXACTLY how it is!
All around us – all the time – spirits walk beside us, loved ones who have gone before, our guides and guardian angels, the earth bound and the simply curious – watching, walking, guiding and talking without (the most of us) being at all aware.
I have always found this to be wonderfully comforting – to know that even when we feel alone and lost there is in truth always someone with us, loving us and guiding us, with only our best interests at heart. Trusting that somehow, somewhere ALL of us feel and know this to be true.
If you get the chance go and see this stunning production of “The Dream” – at a cinema near you – it lifts the heart and spirit and for an hour or three obliterates the worries and concerns of the world and of course it serves to remind us that there are greater things in heaven and earth than in our imagining and that many of them invisibly walk amongst us!
