The evening was warm and kind – sunlight dappled through bright leaves as the promenade players romanced the audience around the lush gardens in Hove.
This show is delectable from start to finish thanks to Amy Griggs’s delicious, capricious and delicate Titania, Daniel Gott’s mischievous, slightly snarky Oberon and Gillian Dean’s charmingly outraged, yet lusty Helena – to name but three of the nine immensely engaging cast members.
You get the feeling Shakespeare himself would approve of his comedy being given such lightness of touch – even wings – and updated effortlessly through the playfulness, charm and spontaneity of Jimmy Whiteaker as Lysander/Bottom, among others.
The costumes and props are a delight – psychedelic wigs, shiny rubber capes and Regency-striped trousers denote the faeries; a weird, fluffy pair of ears reveal Bottom’s ass-like state; and a duo of day-glo Spacehoppers are used to convey Bottom and Titania to their lover’s bed and held up to portray the full moon.
The other senses, too, are catered for – sight through Megan Brooks’ adept BSL interpretation while playing Puck and sound as an odd assortment of instruments and hauntingly-composed music are used to weave yet more surrealism into this piece, about a play within a dream.
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