Octagon to deliver Shakespearean fun
2:29pm Thursday 28th January 2010 in Theatre
FAIRIES, lovers and a very confused donkey — the Octagon’s new production of A Midsummer Night’s Dream has everything necessary to convince any doubters that Shakespeare can be fun.
And with the action transferred to the Swinging Sixties, theatregoers are promised a night of psychedelia.
Set in Athens in 1968, just after the military coup, the characters are trapped in a world where miniskirts and the Beatles are banned. Retreating into their inner psyches, they find themselves in a weird dreamworld.
The tangled web sees Helena trying to win the heart of Demetrius, and Hermia and Lysander planning to elope. But some mischievous fairy magic causes utter turmoil.
Vanessa Kirby, who also appeared in All My Sons and Ghosts at the theatre, plays Helena, with Rosie Jones as the feisty Hermia.
“Helena chases desperately after Demetrius,” says Vanessa. “Even though I would never behave exactly like that, really when you think about it everyone’s been there. Everyone’s made a fool of themselves over some guy.
“She’s so honest with how she feels, hopefully the audience will really relate to her. It feels really cool to play a girl who has no hang-ups about saying how she feels, she’s quite brave.”
Rosie adds: “I think everyone’s been in that situation where you’ve been so desperately in love with each other that you didn’t know what to do with yourselves.”
Both actresses agreed that what the play doesn’t show makes it as fascinating as what it does suggest.
Vanessa says: “I was thinking about the Twilight films and how people are obsessed with them. I was talking to someone who said the whole thing with those films was they were about sexual desire, but not overtly, and not that could be acted on, that’s been repressed. It’s the same with this; it’s not out there and in your face, the lovers have to be restrained and that’s what makes it so tense and fascinating.”
Rosie says she hopes people who might not normally go to watch a Shakespeare play will be tempted by this production.
“A Midsummer Night’s Dream is an amazing story,” she says. “A lot of the time at school or wherever people get bogged down in the Shakespeareness of the plays. But that’s not the case here at all.”
The pair, who spend all their time on stage together, are full of praise for each other. Vanessa says: “Rosie went to RADA so I’m sure she’s got so much to teach me.” Rosie adds: “Whenever you meet new people there’s something to learn. You pick up so much from people, it’s wonderful.” It is their first time in a professional Shakespeare production.
“It’s so exciting,” says Vanessa. “My next play is Thomas Middleton — I think that is so much harder. For me it’s been a huge learning curve.”
Rosie says: “I’m very excited to be here doing this play because I love A Midsummer Night’s Dream, it’s a wonderful opportunity for comedy and the people are great. It’s a very welcoming place.”
They also say it’s been a treat working with the Olivier Award-winning artistic director of the Octagon, David Thacker.
Vanessa says: “David was very aware that it was my choice between going to LAMDA or doing these three plays here. This has been my training, really.”
And Rosie adds: “He’s very into that. He’s into developing himself and us. He’s very interested in what we’re bringing to it.”
And what they’re bringing, it seems, is a real sense if fun.
Rosie says: “I hope it’s going to be a laugh a minute. I really hope that people see it and realise that yes, Shakespeare’s not boring.
“And you get to see a man change into a donkey on stage. What more could you want?”
l A Midsummer Night’s Dream opens at the Octagon, Howell Croft South, Bolton, on Thursday, February 4. Tickets cost £9-£18.50.
To book, visit octagonbolton.co.uk or ring 01204 520661.
kdibbits@theboltonnews.co.uk
