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Jawless And Demented Muffin Hits Northcott
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Although to my shame I have never seen A Midsummer Night's Dream before, I did appear in a version at nursery school. I played a frog and a hunter. Not expecting to find any of these in the text when refreshing my memory of it last week, I was elated to discover the stage direction 'A frog descends'. Neither frog nor fog came down in the Northcott's current production, but Puck and his chums did. Swings and ropes ferried them up and down, and from left to right. Titania's retinue - clad not in Amazing Midsummernight Dreamcoats, but white pyjamas - perched on platforms to angle for Dreamers with rods and lines. Attached to these were awkward contraptions which resembled nothing so much as discarded farthingales with whalebone warp - these were to plonk on the enchanted from above. Rickety firemen's poles made for quick entry. And Puck balanced with Oberon on a window cleaner's plank as they observed Quince and co in rehearsal. But this is pure cavil about some precarious props which threatened disaster but not, ultimately, the spirited performance. A cumbersome legacy of the famous Brook production (with which director Geoffrey Reeves was associated), they were a mere distraction from a show teeming with inventive detail. And at the bottom of it all - Bottom, and a hilarious Barnsley Bottom at that, replete with a head that suggested a jawless and demented Muffin. Garfield Morgan's South Yorks bray and his excellent timing were an inspiration to the other 'mechanicals'. He held the reins of the performance, complimenting a curiously austere Oberon and Titania. At first, I found this treatment of the faerie royals strange, preconceiving them as gorgeous and gaudy figures. Yet the strength of Gareth Armstrong's delivery as Oberon, and the commanding presence of Jacqueline Pearce as Titania - the queen who doesn't know an ass from her elbow when she's under the influence - made sense of the reading. Doubling the pair as the Athenian and Faerie coupes also sensibly emphasised their parallel dispensation of judgement on love, whilst in each case subject themselves to love for each other. The whole increased steadily in power. A stark, immobile opening - the lighting surely too cold here - gave way to some likeable and energetic romping between the four lovers. If Geoffrey Reeve's productions score highly, they score on rumbustious pace - and a note for Reeves-watchers - the drums are back! Of the lovers, all impressively active as they fell in and out of each other's arms and legs, Carol Frazer (Helena) had the edge. She managed a melancholy, comic gawkiness whether chasing or chased. Tim Iremonger's Puck was also engaging, once you warmed to his cross between Wee Willie Winkie and an impish hobbit. He scampered in and out of the action, which was a nice blend of farce, sexuality and sensuality (the latter in an absorbing dance between Oberon and Titania). The production sparkled to its riot of fun as Pyramus and Thisbe died their merrily tragic deaths, with Lion, Wall and Moon using a battery of comic techniques to hold our attention. These I won't spoil for you, any more than I'll reveal the delightful touch in the epilogue. Suffice to say that, despite props which may at first irritate, it's well worth a look-in. Bill Greenwell. Exeter Flying Post Thursday 23rd June 1977
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