It was a cold, damp evening when I set off to Opera North’s revival of Benjamin Britten’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream at The Lowry.
I’d heard that Britten’s opera was ‘difficult’, and my only encounter with Shakespeare’s play was the 1935 Hollywood version with James Cagney and Micky Rooney some years ago. Despite this, I was in an optimistic mood, excited to be back at the opera. Opera North’s production of Britten’s Peter Grimes still lingers in my memory as one of the finest I’ve ever seen, so what could go wrong? My mood changed as my seat was a tight squeeze in the middle of the row. This would not normally be a problem but a recent long-haul flight has left me with a knee inherited from the Tin Man. It stiffens up if I can’t stretch. It is painful and makes me irritable. Grumpy as Puck, in fact.
That segues me back to A Midsummer Night’s Dream. The first thing you notice is the set. Clean, simple and futuristic, the design by Johan Engels is a pure joy as is the lighting by Bruno Poet. It gives the air of a magical kingdom. The story concerns a row between Oberon (James Laing), the King of the Fairies, and Titania (Daisy Brown), the Queen of the Fairies, about the custody of a young boy. Seeking revenge, Oberon employs Puck (Daniel Abelson), a mischievous goblin, to find a flower that when sprinkled on the eyes of a sleeping victim causes him/her to fall in love with the first person they see. Throw into the mix four star-crossed lovers, Hermia (Sian Griffiths), Lysander (Peter Kirk,), Helena (Camilla Harris) and Demetrius (James Newby), as well as a ragtag group of am-dram actors in search of a rehearsal space and you have the recipe for an entertaining romantic and comic opera.
Photo by Richard H Smith
Most of the second act is taken up with one of the am-drams, Bottom (Henry Waddington), who is transformed into an ass as Titania falls asleep. Puck sprinkles her eyelids and, on waking, she sees the ass, Bottom, and is immediately in love. She is surrounded by her troop of attendant fairies who keep a watchful eye on their besotted queen. Dressed as outcasts from the Village of the Damned, they were outstanding. Act three, meanwhile, is taken up with a play within a play starring the re-transformed Bottom and his group of am-drams. It is very funny and a definite highlight of this lengthy production. Running at three hours, everyone finally lives happily ever after (though my knee needed an oil can).
Nevertheless, I found this performance to be very uneven. I thought the sum of its parts didn’t add up to a coherent, satisfying whole. Yes, there were many good things in it. Puck (Abelson) was excellent as a creepy combination of Gollum and Andy Serkis in Planet of the Apes, and Oberon’s (Laing) contra-tenor was outstanding. But it was like a jigsaw with pieces missing, unsatisfying and incomplete.
Seeing it in 1961 shortly after its debut, W. H. Auden thought it “Dreadful! Pure Kensington”. Perhaps Auden overstated his view but I do see what he means about Kensington. A bit tree hugging, hippy and meat-free. It has pained me to write this as I have followed and adored nearly every production by Opera North for more than a decade. I feel like Orson Welles in Citizen Kane reviewing his wife’s operatic debut, a brutal but honest production note to a beloved one. I will revive at Xanadu and patiently await Opera North’s 2025 season with my usual sense of excited anticipation.
By Robert Hamilton, Opera Correspondent
All photos, including the main image, by Richard H Smith
