The production relies on the audience’s willingness to accept the play’s supernatural framework and enter its world of fairies, sprites and enchantment. Director Graham Abbey notes that A Midsummer Night’s Dream was his introduction to Shakespeare, and this staging reflects a clear understanding of how the play’s magic can be translated for a twenty-first-century audience.
Although the play is frequently staged and often taught in Ontario high school English classes as an accessible entry point to Shakespeare, its success depends heavily on how convincingly a production sustains the audience’s suspension of disbelief.
In this Stratford production, Abbey makes the play legible for a contemporary audience through sound casting choices, imaginative direction and an integrated design concept. A line from his Programme Note succinctly frames the production’s interpretive approach to Midsummer:
“It revels in disorder [in the forest], celebrating the fierce beauty of chaos and the promise of new beginnings…It speaks to a fundamental truth about our place as humans in the great cosmos, our openness to change and our capacity for love.’
The production interweaves the impending marriage of Theseus (Evan Buliung) and Hippolyta (Ijeoma Emesowum), the comic efforts of the amateur troupe known as the Mechanicals, and the misdirected pursuits of four young lovers.
The Mechanicals—Nick Bottom (Michael Spencer-Davis), Rita Quince (Sarah Dodd), Francis Flute (Aaron Kruhn), Snout (Sara-Jeanne Hosie), Snug (郝邦宇 Steven Hao) and Robin Starveling (Michael Man)—rehearse Pyramus and Thisbe for the court festivities of the marriage, while Hermia (Vivien Endicott-Douglas), Lysander (Jordin Hall), Helena (Jessica B. Hill) and Demetrius (Thomas Duplessie) provide the production’s central romantic confusion.
Their intersecting stories are set in motion by Oberon (an imposing and regal André Sills), Titania (a ‘queenly’ Sara Topham) and Puck (a terrific, sometimes naughty and impish Mike Nadajewski), whose interventions turn the forest into a site of comic disorder. The dispute over the changeling child and the misapplication of the love potion sustain the production’s momentum without obscuring the relationships at its centre.
The production’s design work is among its strongest features. Lorenzo Savoini’s set establishes a clear visual vocabulary, dominated by a slowly revolving moon above the Patterson stage. Thomas Ryder Payne’s composition and sound design add atmospheric depth, while Kevin Lamotte’s lighting defines the forest through shadow and contrast. Joshua Quinlan’s costumes distinguish effectively between the woodland world and the court, and Stephanie Graham’s movement direction gives the opening sequence a controlled physical rhythm.
The projection design by Normal Studios integrates cleanly with the live action and extends the production’s visual world without distracting from the performers. Its realism is especially effective in moments intended to register immediate audience response, including the appearance of a snake crossing the stage floor.
Among the performances, the quartet of lovers maintains the comedy’s pace with disciplined ensemble work, particularly in a sequence of rapid entrances and exits through the vomitorium. Michael Spencer-Davis gives Bottom a broad comic assurance that suits the production’s tone, while Sarah Dodd’s Rita Quince provides a steady counterpoint in the rehearsal scenes.
As in many productions of A Midsummer Night’s Dream, the concluding celebration restores order after prolonged confusion. What distinguishes this staging is less its interpretive framing than the consistency of its theatrical execution.
The result is a production that emphasizes visual invention and comic control, demonstrating how effectively Shakespeare’s play can be shaped through contemporary staging.
Running time: approximately two hours and 45 minutes with one interval.
The production runs to September 26 at the Tom Patterson Theatre, 111 Lakeside Drive, Stratford. For tickets: stratfordfestival.ca or call 1-800-567-1600.
STRATFORD FESTIVAL, developed in collaboration with GROUNDLING THEATRE present
A Midsummer Night’s Dream by William Shakespeare
Directed by Graham Abbey
Set Designer: Lorenzo Savoini
Costume Designer: Joshua Quinlan
Lighting Designer: Kevin Lamotte
Projection and Video Design: Normal Studio
Composer and Sound Designer: Thomas Ryder Payne
Performers: Evan Builing, Ijeoma Emesowum, Vivien Endicott-Douglas, Jessica B. Hill, Jordin Hall, Thomas Duplessie, Tim Campbell, Rylan Wilkie, Richard Lee, André Sills, Sara Topham, Mike Nadajewski, Dominique LeBlanc, Davinder Malhi, Anthony Palermo, Silvae Mercedes, Tarique Lewis, Sara-Jeanne Hosie, Heidi Damayo, Derek Kwan, Richard Lee, Angelo Lo, Vivienne Abbey, Alexandra Krohn, Michael Spencer-Davis, Sarah Dodd, 郝邦宇 Steven Hao, Michael Man,
