A Production of a Shakespeare's play is a welcome thing and I am glad that the Theatre Guild is being revived.
Back in my day -- it was on the High School syllabus that we do a Shakespeare Play every year until being 'streamed' in the fourth year, Midsummer's Night Dream was my first formal introduction to the Bard.
Funny how things change - Bottom stood out in my memory but Puck was definitely the star of the show - the actor Keon Haywood was well cast - in my opinion - the Fairy King and Puck were acted/portrayed the best-- with no electronic help to amplify the sound, they seemed to 'speak-up' and enunciate clearly - the rest had strange hybrid accents and although it was relevant that they address each other, in the second scene with the workmen planning their 'play' the actors tended to address the back of the stage! Even though I was sitting in the third row I had occasional difficulty hearing the dialogue at various times during the Play. It's always interesting to see different local adaptations to various Shakespeare plays - I remember being a bit surprised that Julius Caesar was set in 'The City' in a Barbican production in London - but I puzzled about the jerky, exaggerated movements of the portrayal of Titania and it spoiled one of my favourite characters in the Play.
Given the constraints of being in Guyana I thought the Stage settings and changes ok but I couldn't figure out why they let the one Backdrop used with the Workmen swing most distractingly throughout- surely it wouldn't be too hard to lower it a few inches to touch the ground and stop swinging?
The best thing was that there was almost a Full House with lots of the the Younger Generation-- most probably because they are still doing it in School?
Back in my day -- it was on the High School syllabus that we do a Shakespeare Play every year until being 'streamed' in the fourth year, Midsummer's Night Dream was my first formal introduction to the Bard.
Funny how things change - Bottom stood out in my memory but Puck was definitely the star of the show - the actor Keon Haywood was well cast - in my opinion - the Fairy King and Puck were acted/portrayed the best-- with no electronic help to amplify the sound, they seemed to 'speak-up' and enunciate clearly - the rest had strange hybrid accents and although it was relevant that they address each other, in the second scene with the workmen planning their 'play' the actors tended to address the back of the stage! Even though I was sitting in the third row I had occasional difficulty hearing the dialogue at various times during the Play. It's always interesting to see different local adaptations to various Shakespeare plays - I remember being a bit surprised that Julius Caesar was set in 'The City' in a Barbican production in London - but I puzzled about the jerky, exaggerated movements of the portrayal of Titania and it spoiled one of my favourite characters in the Play.
Given the constraints of being in Guyana I thought the Stage settings and changes ok but I couldn't figure out why they let the one Backdrop used with the Workmen swing most distractingly throughout- surely it wouldn't be too hard to lower it a few inches to touch the ground and stop swinging?
The best thing was that there was almost a Full House with lots of the the Younger Generation-- most probably because they are still doing it in School?
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