Summer Comedy on Campus, “The Importance of Being Earnest’ & ‘A Midsummer Nights Dream’
It seems as though the traditional stock of well-worn comedies have been the choice of preference for those dramatically minded students at York. For not only has the Drama Barn been home to ‘The Importance of Being Earnest’ and ‘A Midsummer Night’s Dream’ this term, but in an impressive array of outdoor theatre being staged within the city in June it seems that those dramatists know when they are onto a good thing. A summer’s evening spent watching obsequious debauchery or the mischief-making of Elizabethan fairies cannot fail to amuse, and it does seems somewhat more apt to be viewing theatre in the open air than in the confines of a stifling shed.
DramaSoc’s production of ‘The Importance of Being Earnest’ in Week 6, directed by Louisa Proske was an ambitious and elaborate attempt to take a new angle on Wilde’s classic society comedy. Perhaps the most remarkable part of this performance was the sheer abundance of props which gave the appearance of the play being set in a number of time periods at the same time. Alongside Algernon Moncrieff and John Worthing, (Lewis Charlesworth and Ben Anderson), whose messy London abode was similar to the drugged up world of mid-1960s bohemia, there came Cecily Cardew (Fran Trewin) the modern-day fashion conscious teenager complete with water-pistol, and her governess, the prim Miss. Prism (Alex Crampton), straight from Wilde’s 1890s.
Proske’s production seemed to give ‘camp’ as the stage direction for nearly every action. Although this was an interesting approach, perhaps most comically embodied by the cross-dressing undertaken by Richard Hubbert in his role as the maid, it was pushed to the extent where it seemed inconceivable that either Algernon or Jack could consider marrying anybody but each other. Wilde’s words cannot fail to amuse and it is perhaps because of the safety of that knowledge that this play has continued to be performed to the extent that it has; however, although DramaSoc’s production improved as the actors found their feet on the night, it seemed a little too convoluted to be ground-breaking.
A week later the barn was transformed into a fairy glen for a production of A Midsummer Night’s Dream. The performance was a fairly traditional adaptation of Shakespeare’s midsummer misadventures. Most impressive was the use of the space to portray the woodland glen, with the staging blocks and floor sponged with paint to look like leaves, and the audience sitting almost in the round to view the action. The warmth generated from the abundance of fairy lighting also certainly helped to create the sultry heat of a midsummer’s eve!
The acting was well-rehearsed and with a relatively small cast each performer worked hard on the night. The lovers played their parts with acumen, with a noteworthy performance by Ellie Taylor as the exasperated and love-sick Helena whose tirade against the height of Hermia, played by Minna Sharpe, was given full comic effect through some clever casting. Sam Haddon’s performance as Bottom was wacky to say the least, and his affected high-brow accent, if a little forced at times, certainly brought out the Weaver’s delusions of grandeur. The presentation of the play-within-the-play ‘Pyramus and Thisbe’ by the Thesbians drew outbursts of hilarity from the audience whose warm reception of the performance was a tribute to the actors’ skill for comedy.
A slightly more innovative approach to ‘A Midsummer Night’s Dream’ promises to be undertaken by a production taking place in West Bank Park in Acomb from 19th- 22nd June as part of the ‘3 Parks 3 Plays’ series which has included performances of Chekov’s ‘The Seagull’ in Rowntree Park and ‘Love’s Labour’s Lost’’ in the somewhat insalubrious surroundings of Hull Road Park. The series, aiming to raise money for the newly formed student ‘Apricot Theatre Company’ to take their production of ‘The Duchess of Malfi’ on tour to Edinburgh and London this summer, begins the start of an abundance of Shakespeare coming to the urban greenery of York. This second production promises to be an altogether different experience from DramSoc’s version, as it is to be performed by a small all-female cast and the action will use two different areas of the park to create the spaces of the Athenian court and the Fairy Glen. Nina McBreen, the director claims that the play is ‘infinitely suitable to being performed outdoors’ and she will use ‘physiciality and site-specific action’ to bring out the energy of the drama.
Outdoor theatre is mainly comprised of a standardized canon of Shakespeare’s comedies and well-loved favourites, however each adaptation has something new to offer and it a credit to York’s students that they are not only performing these summer classics in the Drama Barn, but aiming to take them beyond the university and into the city.
‘3 Parks 3 Plays’ Box Office: 01904 621 756
or see www.apricottheatre.com
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