A MIDSUMMER NIGHT’S DREAM at Greenwich Theatre

After the grisly horrors at the heart of Edward II and Lord Of The Flies, the decision by company-in-residence Lazarus to finish their Greenwich Theatre stint with A Midsummer Night’s Dream was a neat touch – and a joyful one. Adapted by director Ricky Dukes, the cast threw themselves into Shakespeare’s beloved comedy with gusto, slapping on the slapstick and revelling in the silliness of a plot awash with magic, mischief, myth, misunderstandings and metamorphoses. There were fine performances all around, with standout turns by Ingvild Lakou as Titania, David Clayton as ass-eared Bottom, John Slade as leader of the “rude Mechanicals” Quince, Tessa Carmody as Puck and Saskia Vaigncourt-Strallen as Helena. Stuart Glover’s lighting design, which transformed the fairies into points of dazzling white light, was inspired. And there were some great jokes – Puck’s urge to swamp the stage in apparently unending quantities of colourful confetti and the sheer hammy awfulness of the Mechanicals’ attempts to stage the classical tragedy Pyramus And Thisbe. Lazarus have impressed throughout their residency in Greenwich. I look forward to seeing them here again in the future.