Usually when reviewing children’s theatre I completely disregard the opinions of my own kids, who are pathetically easily pleased and woefully lacking in in-depth knowledge of the theatrical arts.
This is different though: a rare collaboration between the Unicorn and the RSC, Rachel Bagshaw and Robin Belfield’s production is an 80-minute edit of A Midsummer Night’s Dream that nonetheless uses only the original Shakespearean language. If my eldest, a relatively bookish tween, isn’t feeling it then surely it’s fundamentally failed to render Shakespeare accessible. Plus: I’m a theatre critic! I’m nervous about what my child thinks about his first Shakespeare play. If he took against it, it would be kind of akin to him taking against my best friend from home, or something.
Anyway, he liked it. Not as much as he liked the new Super Mario movie. But not only did he indicate he’d enjoyed it, he backed this up by having clearly followed the plot. So if you’re thinking of going to this production to get your little one started early on some culture then surely that should be enough to recommend it?
To offer a slightly more in-depth analysis: Belfield’s edit is really very nicely done indeed. Around an hour has been lopped off, but no key scenes or characters have been abandoned, and it’s all quite tidily done. The racier bits of the Bottom/Titania ‘romance’ are the most obvious casualties but it seemed like a reasonable place to start: and remember if you want to see a full length Dream, it is staged elsewhere almost constantly (the Globe and Open Air Theatre are both doing it this summer).
The big innovation is the playfully projected surtitles that make the entire text readable as you go, and also offer a creative solution for the fact the production is on a relative shoestring. So the minor fairies (Peaseblossom et al) never actually appear on stage but are represented by more cartoonish captions that are voiced, pre-recorded by children.
The need for the actors to be doubled also means pleasingly bold, bright outfits, like those worn by the rainbow clad Mechanicals… shades of Mr Tumble, perhaps.
Okay, the focus on clarity means there’s not the detailed textual response here that you tend to get in a ‘proper’ production - for instance, there’s no suggestion things are off between Theseus and Hippolyta, which is generally pretty standard now.
A bigger budget Dream can be very accessible to kids too, thanks to the greater lucidity that comes with larger casts, A-grade verse speakers and more lavish sets, costumes and physical comedy. This Dream is, above all, aimed at an audience who might not have the stamina for another hour-plus of theatre. The age advice is seven and above, and for a primary school-aged child, 80 minutes is perfect. Older than that and I think the gains in concision and textual clarity are maybe outweighed by the fancy stuff you’d get with a full version.
But it’s worth stressing that in any given year there’ll be at least five productions of this play in London – there is no definitive take and there’s always a new one along soon. This concise young audiences adaptation is a worthy addition.