BBC's new MIDSUMMER NIGHT'S DREAM

I thoroughly enjoyed the new production of Midsummer Night's Dream as part of the BBC's season of celebration of Shakespeare last night. The casting was particularly impressive I thought and Matt Lucas as Bottom was exceptional as was the incandescent Maxine Peak. Now I must admit to being biased in all sorts of ways about these two but I have always enjoyed all of Matt's comedy work and here he excelled, albeit in a comic role but who knew he was capable of great acting and Maxine Peak of whom I have long been a fan and have enjoyed again I think everything she has done from 'dinnerladies' where I discovered her first with Victoria Wood's startling brave and genius casting to her starring role in 'Silk' and other more serious roles (Myra Hindley anyone?!) Here she was positively ribald and naughty as only Queen Titania should be!

Also it seem to me she is a shining example of the exception being the rule of that age old adage regarding men and women that 'men improve with age' as she is getting more and more beautiful with age! (I guess I'll get into trouble for that one but it is true IMHO)

the incandescent Maxine Peak

I could have done without some of the larger ideas from Russell T Davies and the Whovian scale of the Fascist motif was largely an indulgence but everything else seemed to honour the original and it pulled off in 90 minutes what many grander productions have been unable to and that is to hold our attention and not hack or unnecessarily abridge the story. Where Davis does excel is in the special effects which I found particularly effective with lightning bolts and firefly faeries and landscapes beyond belief.

The Mechanicals

The Mechanicals were impeccably cast with old hands and masters Richard Wilson and Bernard Cribbins ( a masterstroke of genius casting) and Elaine Page as Mistress Quince was good if under used somehow but the youngsters here in Javone Prince and Fisayo Akinade as 'Flute' are very good

I wasn't sure about the casting role of Oberon with Nonso Anozie as that is not how I envisaged the King of the Faeries and no it is not to do with the colour of his skin. Neither was I sure about the use of Jon Hannah who I thought wasted here as a heavy handed Theseus and the Hannibal Lecter quote for Hippolyte (Eleanor Matsuura) was heavy to the point of clankingly bad and Eleanor cruelly underused.

'Puck' however was a delight played with mischievous glee by Hiran Abeysekera who I thought I had seen before, he has one of those faces it seems and was simply perfection but it was I understand his debut on TV and he was astonishingly good. Mention should also go to the make-up and costume, the fairy folk being especially well done and Peaseblossom, Mustardseed,  

Mustardseed played by Marlene Madenge

Cobweb and Moth beautifully cast and acted as Queen Titania's attendants. Special mention must also go to new (to me) youngsters cast in the roles of a somewhat obvious Harry Potteresque 'Lysander' (Matthew Tenyson), the hilarious towering Helena played to perfection by Kate Kennedy and the beautiful 'Hermia' played by the radiant Prisca Bakare. I also noted also the stretch for comic Javone Prince (Phone Shop etc) as 'Snug'. I always love to see folk associated with comedy stretch into theatrical roles and proving themselves. Whilst comedy is considered a difficult art to master often we judge our actors if they start there. 
There is something to say about a certain hullabaloo prior to it's broadcast and the Telegraph and the Mirror published some outrage that there was to be a 'gay' kiss and there has been a mention about the end where Theseus is killed and there is a dance sequence in which Queen Titania and Hypolita kiss. There is also a scene where two of the male characters kiss after lining up together in the dance but there seems to have been little mention of that. Frankly this is all beneath us to even comment on but as it caused such hullabaloo I will state for the record that it did not bother me one jot and was rather emotionally satisfying and brought some resolution to the end but as the characters are fantasy figures their 'gayness' did not occur to me at all. All in all a thoroughly enjoyable end to my evening and I would watch it all over again and look forward to doing so. 

Now we can all say we have seen Matt Lucas' Bottom! [well someone had to say it!]