The story of A Midsummer Night’s dream is well known. Hermia and Lysander fall in love but flee to the woods when Hermia’s father demands she marry Demetrius. Demetrius pursues them, followed by Helena, who loves him. Puck, a fairy, enchants the lovers, causing both men to fall for Helena. After confusion and mistaken identities, everything is resolved, and the lovers marry.

This production condenses the story into the 70 minutes run time. It was labelled as being Pre-Apocalyptic, which could mean any time before an Apocalypse.

The costumes are traditional Shakespearean with tights, tunics, and long skirts, suggesting a historical setting. However, the Pre-Apocalyptic theme does not seem relevant to the play.

It is also noted that this is set against a backdrop of climate change. However, the only reference to climate change is a forest fire projected on the back wall, with no clarification of its relevance to the play.

The Australian Shakespeare company performs and tours in remote outback settings and is best known for their appearances in parks and gardens. This may account for the entire 70-minute performance being delivered at a very high volume with little variation in tone. In the venue such as this which was not designed as a performance space this was particularly grating.

There were a few mitigating moments, Demetrius managed to speak at normal volume! The interactions between Demetrius and Lysander while playing the vamp after being bewitched by Puck, added some entertainment value, but sadly this was not enough to rescue the production.

References to the Apocalypse and climate Change in the pre-show information were totally unnecessary and misleading; the script was classic Shakespeare.

There were moments when it seemed the performance was trying to parody the play but sadly failed.

2 stars

A MND Prague Fringe 26th, 27th,31st May 2025

Reviewed by Nina Gardner.

https://www.praguefringe.com/