Tag Archives: Miles Blanch

A MIDSUMMER NIGHTMARE!

★★★★

UK Tour

A MIDSUMMER NIGHTMARE!

Keats House

★★★★

“a richly atmospheric experience that is at times unsettling, at times hilarious, and always captivating”

A Midsummer Nightmare!, presented by Midnight Circle Productions and helmed by visionary director Cecilie Fray, is a bold, genre-defying reimagining of Shakespeare’s classic. Produced by the Broadway World award-winning company, this hauntingly beautiful adaptation captures both the chaos and charm of the original while plunging it into darker, more dreamlike depths.

From the moment the audience enters the performance space, it’s clear this is not traditional theatre. Each venue on the company’s tour is transformed into an enchanted garden, drawing you into an immersive, almost interactive environment. With flickering lanterns, creeping fog, and a soft midsummer breeze, the setting evokes something between a dream and a gothic fairytale. If you look closely enough, or maybe just believe hard enough, you might catch a fairy slipping between the trees.

The production leans heavily into the surreal and eerie qualities of the play, amplifying the sense of mischief, confusion, and illusion that has always been at its heart. This isn’t just a “Midsummer Night’s Dream” with a twist, it’s a full-on nightmare, but one that retains the warmth and wit of Shakespeare’s writing. The result is a richly atmospheric experience that is at times unsettling, at times hilarious, and always captivating.

One of the most impressive elements of the production is the cast’s dual role as both performers and musicians. Every actor on stage contributes not just to the storytelling but also to the show’s live soundscape, through haunting harmonies, folk-inspired instrumentation, and ambient vocalizations. This creates a constantly shifting sonic world that mirrors the instability of the enchanted forest and the characters’ emotional turmoil.

Standout performances abound. Nadia Lamin brings a touching vulnerability and fierce comic energy to Helena, whose desperate love for Demetrius, played with arrogance and occasional softness by Charlie Macrae-Tod, anchors some of the play’s most painfully funny scenes. Their chemistry adds fresh depth to one of the play’s most turbulent love stories.

Sam Bird is a magnetic presence as Puck, or Robin Goodfellow, the mischievous fairy who gleefully causes much of the chaos. His physicality, timing, and voice work bring an unpredictable edge to the role, while Chloe Orrock’s regal and brooding Oberon offers a powerful counterbalance. The decision to gender-swap the fairy king adds further intrigue to their dynamic.

Meanwhile, Titania, portrayed by Kennedy Jopson, exudes grace and quiet power, while her scenes with Bottom, played by Jed McLoughlin, are some of the show’s most bizarre and oddly tender moments. Their vocal performances in particular, lyrical, eerie, and emotionally charged, elevate the production’s dreamlike tone.

Costume and set design deserve special mention. Cloaked in earth tones, shadowy veils, and delicate lights, the aesthetic of the production embraces both decay and beauty. The forest feels alive, filled with secrets and whispers, while the actors’ costumes suggest they’ve wandered out of a folk horror film. The visuals, heighten the sense that this is a space out of time, where love, identity, and reality blur.

Despite its dark tone, the production doesn’t lose the play’s original humor. In fact, the comedic moments shine more brightly against the gothic backdrop, and the clever use of physical comedy and timing ensures the audience is constantly engaged, sometimes laughing, sometimes holding their breath.

If there’s one critique, it’s that the immersive elements might not work equally well in all venues, depending on the audience’s proximity to the action. However, this feels like a small price to pay for such an ambitious and original reimagining of a well-known classic.

In the end, A Midsummer Nightmare! is exactly what its title promises, a dream turned on its head. This production does not aim to comfort; it aims to enchant, unsettle, and surprise. With its stunning performances, innovative staging, and gothic flair, it invites us to rediscover Shakespeare not as a museum piece, but as a living, breathing spell of theatre.



A MIDSUMMER NIGHTMARE!

Keats House then UK Tour continues

Reviewed on 13th June 2025

by Beatrice Morandi

Photography by Roj Whitelock

 

 


 

 

 

 

Previously reviewed by Beatrice:

INSIDE GIOVANNI’S ROOM | ★★★★★ | SADLER’S WELLS EAST | June 2025
MACBETH | ★★★★ | BREAD & ROSES THEATRE | May 2025
JORDAN GRAY: IS THAT A C*CK IN YOUR POCKET, OR ARE YOU JUST HERE TO KILL ME? | ★★★★★ | SOHO THEATRE | May 2025
FAYGELE | ★★★★★ | MARYLEBONE THEATRE | May 2025
ROMEO AND JULIET | ★★★★★ | HACKNEY EMPIRE | April 2025
THE GUEST | ★★★★★ | OMNIBUS THEATRE | April 2025

 

 

 

A MIDSUMMER NIGHTMARE!

A MIDSUMMER NIGHTMARE!

A MIDSUMMER NIGHTMARE!

WUTHERING HEIGHTS

★★★★

Crossrail Place Roof Garden

WUTHERING HEIGHTS at the Crossrail Place Roof Garden

★★★★

“almost Shakespearian at times in the rhythm of the language yet peppered with modern profanities and anachronisms”

One always admires companies who tackle outdoor shows in the UK. They are always risky undertakings, what Oscar Wilde would describe as a ‘triumph of hope over experience’. The evocatively titled Midnight Circle Productions don’t shy away from the challenge as they take their devised adaptation of Emily Bronte’s “Wuthering Heights” around some of England’s most beautiful castles, manor houses and gardens.

As part of the tour, they have shored up in the West India Docks for two nights at the Crossrail Place Roof Garden in Canary Wharf. A haven of exotic plants and hidden pathways that lead you to the small amphitheatre that, in partnership with The Space Theatre, offers free events throughout the summer months. Asian bamboos to the left, ferns from the Americas to the right, the walkway follows the Meridian line, but it never quite feels like you have escaped the city. An artificial sheen hangs in the air, matched by the rather unatmospheric theatre space you eventually stumble upon. Planes, trains and automobiles provide much of the soundtrack while a featureless wall provides the backdrop.

The cast rise to the challenge and, although not always projecting as strongly as is necessary, they hold our attention throughout with their retelling of the Brontë classic. Told with wonderful clarity and constancy, it stamps its own individuality by allowing the characterisation to fill the spaces in the framework of the text. Director Nicholas Benjamin’s semi-improvised approach lets everyone take a writing credit. The result could be chaotic but here the narrative is a mix of soap opera and classical prose; almost Shakespearian at times in the rhythm of the language yet peppered with modern profanities and anachronisms. The fluctuating tempo of the staging is led by offstage percussion and sporadic bouts of music that tentatively wander into the playing space. An underused squeezebox shyly underscores while an under amplified guitar accompanies the folksy song interludes.

The story unfolds in flashback as Nelly (Jacqueline Johnson) relates it to Lockwood (Nicholas Benjamin), the new tenant to gruff, eccentric Heathcliff – the landlord of the remote Wuthering Heights. Transported back thirty years, Lockwood learns the backstory to the two families (the Earnshaws and the Lintons) and their turbulent relationships with the Earnshaws’ adopted son, Heathcliff. While the production doesn’t quite capture the Romanticism and the Gothic heart of the novel, it certainly draws attention to the cruelty, both mental and physical and the challenging issue of abuse, class and morality. Renny Mendoza’s Heathcliff is a rather unremitting thug, who sulks and shouts his way to his pitiless end, though a charismatic presence, nonetheless. Oscar Mackie’s Hindley Earnshaw, despite being the archetypal bully, fares better in the sympathy stakes. Less a drunkard, Mackie plays the alcoholic with a modern sensitivity. A similar modernism is given to Catherine Earnshaw (Niamh Handley-Vaughan) and Isabella Linton (Nadia Lamin). Both Handley-Vaughan and Lamin keep victimhood at bay with their strong portrayals of the tragic women.

The strengths of this show, however, are often lost in the surroundings. Subtle sound effects (of ghosts or of a wrenching cry) created by the company members themselves had to compete with layers of traffic and streams of curious, often vocal, onlookers. We are more than tempted to follow the play to its next location to feel the full impact of the performance – one full of respect for the original, but not afraid to give it a bit of a shake.

 


WUTHERING HEIGHTS at the Crossrail Place Roof Garden then tour continues

Reviewed on 24th July 2024

by Jonathan Evans

Photography by Roj Whitelock

 

 

 

Top shows this month:

GLITCH | ★★★★ | Minghella Theatre | July 2024
CARMEN | ★★★★ | Sadler’s Wells Theatre | July 2024
SKELETON CREW | ★★★★ | Donmar Warehouse | July 2024
BARNUM | ★★★★ | Watermill Theatre Newbury | July 2024
MEAN GIRLS | ★★★★★ | Savoy Theatre | July 2024
SH!T-FACED A MIDSUMMER NIGHT’S DREAM | ★★★★ | Leicester Square Theatre | July 2024
HELLO, DOLLY! | ★★★★ | London Palladium | July 2024
THE IMPORTANCE OF BEING EARNEST | ★★★★ | Reading Abbey Ruins | July 2024

WUTHERING HEIGHTS

WUTHERING HEIGHTS

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