A Midsummer Night's Dream (2006)
Midsummer 2007. Rhianna's 'Umbrella' dominated the charts, the rained it rained every day (as forecast by Shakespeare), half of Britain was only accessible by submarine and the other half was overrun by ducks. Luckily The Pantaloons were well prepared for the Wettest Summer Ever as some bright spark suggested that umbrellas could be used to represent trees. In practice they proved just as useful when they were used to represent umbrellas.
But there was much more to the Dream than personal anti-weather devices (this is an umbrella term). The Pantaloons provided extra layers of theatricality by performing the entire play as their "rude mechanical" personas. Which turned the play-within-a-play at the end of the show into a play-within-a-play-within-a-play. And then, after the show was over, the cast apologised to the audience and explained that they had only been pretending to be the mechanicals all along. This of course made everyone realise that the play-within-a-play-within-a-play was actually a play-within-a-play-within-a-play-within-a-play.
Confused? So am I. But it all made perfect sense at the time.
Other highlights of the show included an argument about which male member of the cast would have to play Titania, a power ballad entitled "I'm The Biggest Bottom", the front row of the audience pretending to be scary shrubs and possibly the most ridiculous fight between Lysander and Demetrius ever to disgrace the stage.
Yes, The Pantaloons' production of A Midsummer Night's Dream was absolutely umbrelliant! Sorry.
Cast
Puck/Starvelling - Dom Conway
Egeus/Bottom - Martin Gibbons
Musician - Mark Hayward
Oberon/Lysander/Flute - Dave Hughes
Titania/Theseus - Steve Purcell
Hermia/Snug - Sarah Norton
Demetrius/Quince - Oli Seadon
Helena/Snout - Caitlin Storey
Crew
Director - Steve Purcell
Assistant Director - Mark Hayward
Stage Manager - Nina Satterley
Make-Up - Caitlin Storey
Locations
Canterbury, Brighton, Sutton, Saffron Walden, Stratford-upon-Avon, Edinburgh
Reviews
'The Pantaloons bring Shakespeare alive, making the story accessible, engaging and relevant. They are finely trained and bursting with enthusiasm. A great treat for the whole family.'
(edfinge.com)
'This cast are talented folk.they can cope with distractions most professionals would get all "I'll be in my trailer" over. They can convincingly deliver a line, without amplification, across a field in a hurricane... they should be the most highly paid at their craft. But no, they do this stuff for free'
(Broadway Baby)