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Shakespeare comes off second best in Geoffrey Reeves new production of A Midsummer Night's Dream which opened at the Northcott, Exeter, and is now on tour through Devon and Cornwall. It is one of those athletic settings with the lovers quarrelling on a stage floor which is the only recognisable feature of "A wood in Athens". With the rest being acrobatic scaffolding with swings, ropes and a fireman's pole down which the immortals descend. In this energetic production, the actors gasp out their lines en route around the stage and auditorium, with the result that only a comparative few do the ~Bard justice. Chief among these are Gareth Armstrong, first as Theseus and later as Oberon speaking the lines with clarity and dramatic force. The only character remotely connected with a pastoral play is Jacqueline Pearce (in tulle) who makes a very attractive Titania, with Tim Iremonger in off-white decorated boiler suit appearing as a belligerent Puck, which the "fairies" in loose wrestling uniforms and designated "Super Sprites" (played by Paula Bent, Katie Fawkes, Robert Karas and Peter Benedict) replaces Cobweb, Moth and the rest with boisterous adults in a gymnastic display. The rude Mechanicals headed by a droll North Country Bottom played by Garfield Morgan together with a very funny Richard Henry as a repetitive Starveling, fare best in bringing humour and rustic fun and are ably supported by Peter Barnes as Quince, Jonathan Kiley as Flute, Daniel Collings as Snug, and Sean Baker as Snout. Carol Frazer and Rosalind Wilson as Helena and Hermia, and David Freedman and Hywell David as Demetrius and Lysander portray the squabbling lovers with gusto, but suffer from far too much exertion to give more than scant attention and feeling to the lines. Directed by Geoffrey Reeves with Amanda Knott and Garfield Morgan. The play is designed by Adele Anggard and presented with music by Steve McNeff. Harvey Crane. The Stage Thursday 7th July 1977
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