A Midsummer Nights Dream Lyceum Theatre Review
A Midsummer Night’s Dream
by the Propeller Company
Lyceum Theatre, Sheffield
28 January – 1 February 2014
Reviewed by Jenny Seymour
As Midsummer Night’s Dream is so well known, and so very well written by Shakespeare, the challenge for any company is to do it well and uniquely. The Propeller company has certainly added a unique twist to this famous “love triangle” by using an all-male cast, and overall their Dream was extremely well done: fantastical and very very funny From the moment that Puck emerges from a little silver house (a Puck in a box), clad in tutu and striped stockings it is clear that this is no ordinary Midsummer Night’s Dream… and it only gets more surreal from there.
We were a bit dubious at the start of this production – an all-male cast, with a rigorous approach to the text and an aim of creating Shakespeare as it was originally performed in Tudor times. The female characters, being men in drag, came across quite camp initially and we didn’t think we were going to “buy” a male Titania – where is the romance, the beauty and the feminine power? However, this production was very well acted and the integrity of its approach soon won us over.
Whilst other productions of “the Dream” are based upon Titania and Oberon the fairy king and queen, and are a magical fantasy, the Propeller’s production is more subversive and even more farcical than usual. In fact, the best scenes for us were led by Bottom and his group of clueless players: evoking “Dads Army” was a fantastic twist on this commonly side-lined part of the play. The audience were literally howling with laughter as their play within a play was so uniquely “acted”. As were they when the four young lovers were fighting for the people they loved after having had the love spell cast over them by the fairies – each male lover plucking their braces. It was truly the best “cat fight” ever.
Bottom’s performance was by far the best stand out performance for us. The set was unique with ornate chairs strung around the edge of the theatre to form a mezzanine. All of the music is played on stage and sung by the cast and sounded incredible.
I thought the show was quite long (2½ hours with a 15 minute interval) – but just as you thought it was going on too long, a hilarious scene took place.
Overall: This may not be what everyone expects from a Midsummer Night’s Dream, but it’s brilliant – get a ticket if you can! Never have we seen so many people literally rolling in the aisles with laughter when watching Shakespeare. If you can get past the initial “campness” of the female characters, this is the best production of a Midsummer Night’s Dream that I’ve seen for a long time: really well acted.
Please note – the theatre only has an arrangement with the Q Park car park (you get 1 hour free parking) so bear this in mind when parking, as the car park next to the Crucible is quite expensive!
There was also a bit of a queue for the Q-Park when leaving as everyone parks there for the theatre.
Rating: 5/5 
