A Midsummer Night’s Dream was performed in Penny House, Olney, on Wednesday, 16th September, 2026. This production had to be postponed twice due to the heatwave, first from midsummer, then from late summer. At the third time of asking, however, in early autumn, the play was a triumph.
Advocates of ‘the show must go on’ might cavil at the double delay but since the average age of these actors is well over 70, it was a reasonable adjustment for the health and well-being of all involved, the audience as much as the cast. Even in mid-September, it turned out to be a steamy performance.
After the curtain call, a packed house immediately called for these newly-formed Penny House Players to follow up this hit by staging a pantomime this Christmas. Oh no, they didn’t. Oh yes, they did.
The idea began with an assumption that this would be the Shakespearean equivalent of a concert version of a musical such as Les Misérables. In the Albert Hall or some such space, performers might have a music-stand with their lines on, and they would not be dressed up or roaming around a stage, or surmounting a barricade.
Helped by the postponements, however, the actors became so familiar with their lines and were enjoying the rehearsals so much that they decided to wear costumes, several of which were borrowed from Olney’s Cowper & Newton Museum, and to move around to great effect.
Puck, for instance, radiated energy and joy, revelling in the role.
The actor playing Bottom stole the show by appearing in a professionally-crafted Ass’s head.
Titania gave a dramatic and convincing performance of falling for Bottom.
Indeed, all the characters conveyed their love for the appropriate partners with panache. In particular, there was far more kissing on stage, and the kissing was far more enthusiastic, than in the average RSC, BBC or school production.
Unlike the kissing, the scenery left a certain amount to the imagination.
The device of giving a narrator the task of summarising parts of the plot from time to time worked supremely well, thanks both to her script and her delivery.
Talking of which, the diction of everyone involved was clear and the acoustics in the Penny House brasserie proved ideal, as did the period music before and after the performance.
That a play written and first performed over 400 years ago should produce so much joy was a delight to behold.
