Laurence Boswell’s production eschews all romantic accretions, opting for a Brook-like white box in which a set of our contemporaries (complete with iPhones) act out the – at times sexually charged – fantasy.  There is anger both in Athens and in the surrounding forest. Egeus (Forbes Masson) is worked up into a fair old strop about his daughter, Hermia (Eve Ponsonby), who is romantically attached to Lysander, a pretty cool dude, but who is, for his part, angry at the unwonted attentions of Helena who has the barely controlled hots for him.  The one mystery of the production is why the young bucks are not queuing up at her door, for Helena (Maya Masowicz), plain in her pleated black skirt, in all other aspects sparkles, a bundle of seething passion set to explode unless directed through normal channels.

Mr Boswell points up the discord amongst the immortals, the mirror of their human counterparts, and allows some vehemence in Titania’s claims over the changeling. Of course such disharmonies only serve to foreground the healing balm served as the play’s resolution.

Simon Gregor’s Puck is a fourth cousin to Caliban (one is also reminded of Quilp); a gruff, self-willed thing, writhing like a bisected worm in the sun as if a spirit, at odds with its mortal body, struggles to accommodate such a fleshy, sublunary hindrance.  Mr Boswell does a fine job in fitting this unique creation into his overall scheme – a job made easier by Darrell D’Silva’s no-nonsense yet benign Oberon who has the authority to control such a volatile force.

The rude mechanicals (who double as the fairy folk) all do their bit and wring the fun from Shakespeare’s populist and popular creations.  Unlike the excitement and wonder we often find in our Bottoms (ahem) as the character is inducted into the delights and mysteries of play-acting, Phill Jupitus’s Nick the Weaver claims his place by right; of course he can play each role better than any other, he can do anything.  So much self-satisfaction we accept and indeed expect from a man steeped in standup.   Slightly questionable is his lack of deference when in the presence of the Duke who it seemed was seen as no more than another mate.  That aside one can see flickering details of a nuanced and entertaining performance.

Katy Stephens as Hippolyta/Titania elegantly combines the span from martial match of Theseus and stubborn queen of fairyland to erotic seductress of who-knows-what in semi-human form.

Jamie Vartan’s less-is-more set with Colin Grenfell’s lighting and Jon Nicholls’ score all serve this very accessible contemporary production, which retains all the magic of this most English and lyrical of Shakespeare’s plays.    ★★★★☆     Graham Wyles   10^th August 2016

Photo by Nobby Clark