A Midsummer Night's Dream (1981)

Unsalted, humorless, and without a charm, this is mind-bogglingly the work of professionals from the BBC. Line by line, the actors strangle the life out of one of the bard's most accessible yet most wild and original plays. The lovers aren't in love, the dreamer Bottom has no insides with which to dream, Hippolyta and Theseus are soporific and some of the fairies have cheaply synthesized voices. Believe it. Any time, money or talent captured by this film seems to have gone into production design. A few sources (including reviewers here) mention the production's use of the Old Masters' paintings for tableaux vivants in the scenes. If they had just made a nice, corny little series of staged paintings, instead of trying to glue the paintings on to a Shakespeare play, I wouldn't be wondering, thirty years later, why the director Elijah Moshinsky has such contempt for the art of acting, or even the proper use of glue.

Easily Shakespeare's most accessible play, with fairies, lovers and comical buffoons, "A Midsummer Night's Dream" is given a decent enough rendering here. The play could have been paced better, and some scenes made funnier but on the whole the production is acceptable.The Duke of Athens Theseus (Nigel Davenport) is preparing to marry his bride Hippolyta (Estelle Kohler) but has problems with two noblemen, Lysander (Robert Lindsay) and Demetrius (Nicky Henson), fighting over the same woman, Hermia (Pippa Guard). A fourth woman Helena (Cherith Mellor) hankers after Demetrius but he's not interested. A troupe of amateur actors, including the demented Bottom (Brian Glover) rehearse a play for the Duke's wedding. Hermia flees with Lysander into the forest pursued by Demetrius and Helena where Oberon (Peter McEnery), king of the fairies, takes an interest in their affairs in between squabbling with his Queen Titania (Helen Mirren). With the aid of his trusty sidekick Puck (Phil Daniels), he attempts to resolve the lovers' dispute himself and in the meantime embarrass Titania by having her fall in love with Bottom...At it's base this an actually quite complicated plot but the genius of the writing is that it's very easy to follow. The production does the play proud in this aspect and there's never any problem understanding what's going on.The lover's fighting in the forest benefits from the use of overlapping dialogue, and there is some lovely choral work to complement the fairy scenes. The beginning and end scenes in Athen's court could have been directed with a little more urgency. As it is, they drag somewhat.Phil Daniel's Puck, however, is too sped up. He is lithe and physical but too much of his dialogue is unfathomable. The scenes with the mechanicals could have been played for more laughs, despite the best efforts of Glover and Geoffrey Palmer as Quince.The lovers are well portrayed, and their fickleness as they fall in and out of love with one another is given a nice comic edge by the actors. I feel for the actors, though, as they spend most of their scenes drenched in mud and/or water, not a bad achievement in the studio setting.This series really needs a proper modern dress update these days. There is so much power and relevance in Shakespeare's stories that this project, though well-intended, didn't always take advantage of.

There are two reasons why you might want to watch this version of Midsummer Night's Dream. One is Helen Mirren. She is lovely and perfect as Titania throughout and her delivery of the long monologue to Oberon in Act 2 Sc. 1 does not lose the viewer's attention for a moment. That is an awesome feat considering what a difficult passage it is.The other shining moment occurs in Act 3 Sc. 2, starting about when Demetrius wakes up to find that he is in love with Helena. The ensuing lines are delivered over top of each other, as the lovers engage in a confused quarrel. The actors add to this by pushing each other, trying to get around or over or under to talk to someone other than the one that's talking to them. Great directing and perfect timing make this scene race by like I've never seen it before.These two shining moments hardly make up for the rest of the performance which lacks sparkle. Some parts are sung (Puck's "Jack shall have Jill" speech) which is just incongruous. Perhaps the fact that Starveling sings his part as Moonshine is a bit of self-satire.Which brings me to the rude mechanicals who are particularly lacklustre. Geoffrey Palmer is absolutely wasted here. "Pyramus and Thisbe" is absolutely boring. There are exactly two bits of comic business (Bottom steals food from the wedding table on the line "'Deceiving me' is Thisbe's cue" and Starveling as Moonshine tries to upstage Bottom by hanging the lantern in front of his face) and they aren't exactly hilarious. If it's not funny, it should at least be moving, but although Flute (a very feminine Flute) tries, the director has cut most of the wedding party's backchat and they seem to have little interest in what is going on on the stage. Small wonder really.There's nothing about the sets and costumes, which suggest the English Civil War, to get us excited. The entire first scene is set in a library against a background of a ticking clock. What a great way to remind us how slowly the scene is moving!

This is the second time I've seen her in this play, first as Titania. The first time she was in a movie version of the Dream she was Hermia, one of the lovers. This is a good version for a class room viewing. It lacks the nudity and innuendos that Hall's and Hoffman's exhibited. This is also the one I know of where Puck is a punk. I love this version because it doesn't cut out any of the dialogue. It heightens the tension and passion Mirren's character had in the section about the environmental affects her feud with her husband has had. The costumes do not blend well with one another. It makes it hard to date and does not give the story a sense of timelessness. Also, you can get this on video. It's hard to find but it can be located at a library near you. Blockbuster will not carry it for whatever reason. PBS is a good source too but don't hold out for it.