A Midsummer Night’s Dream had it’s press night on the 17th of September at 7pm at the Noel Coward Theatre in London. Stars in attendance included David Walliams’ wife and model Lara Stone, Miranda Hart, Jonathan Ross and Star Trek actor Chris Pine.
The show, Michael Grandage’s fourth installment in his season of five plays at the theatre, received a great critical response. Check out the A Midsummer Night’s Dream London reviews below to see exactly what the critics and bloggers had to say.
Critics Reviews
QUENTIN LETTS: “This production catches the Sybaritic jollity, the vivid vim of the Dream. Even in autumnal London you catch a taste of midsummer.”
MICHAEL BILLINGTON: “Enormously spirited and fast-moving show that turns into a joyous celebration of sex and fertility…”
LIBBY PURVES “This is where the wild things are; sensual, pagan and necessary.”
THEO BOSANQUET: “All spliffs and sauciness; an energetic romp in some distinctly dystopian woods….a dark wonderland.”
MICHAEL COVNEY: “The mixed-up lovers are given full value by a lively quartet of Katherine Kingsley’s temperamental Helena, Susannah Fielding’s full-throated, lion-hearted Hermia, and the good-looking stripped-down duo (they could be Calvin Klein underwear models) of Stefano Braschi’s Demetrius and Sam Swainsbury’s lightly tattooed Lysander.”
CHARLES SPENCER: “Christopher Oram’s designs are also memorable creating a sense of mystery and allure, with a vast full moon dominating the back of the stage.”
PAUL TAYLOR: “The quartet of young lovers are extremely winning (especially Katherine Kingsley’s leggy, frantically frustrated Helena) and their rowdy slapstick scrapping soon reduces them to their dazzlingly white undies.”
Bloggers Reviews
WEST END WHINGERS: “There’s so many honed torsos on display you might consider throwing away your subscription to Men’s Health magazine.”
JUDITH I BRIDGLAND: “It’s a play full of the most exquisite passages of lyrical poetry, which move through the text like wide glitttering swathes of scattered fairy dust, bejeweling the Dream and giving it form and emotional depth.” Read more
REV STAN’S THEATRE BLOG “This is Shakespearean comedy done brazenly, oozing sex appeal as the young lovers attempt to seduce, undressing and sometimes tearing at each others clothing in the height of their passion. The fairies attire is a cross between the village people and hot, summer festival for which we have to thank Michael Grandage and costume designer Christopher Oram. (Surely this must be the ‘fittest’ cast on stage currently, if not this year?).” Read More