A Midsummer Night’s Dream

‘The course of true love never did run smooth.’

A feuding fairy King and Queen of the forest cross paths with four runaway lovers and a troupe of actors trying to rehearse a play. As their dispute grows, the magical royal couple meddle with mortal lives leading to love triangles, mistaken identities and transformations… with hilarious, but dark consequences.

Shakespeare’s most famous romantic comedy was filmed live from the Bridge Theatre in London. Gwendoline Christie (Game of Thrones), Oliver Chris (Green Wing, NT Live: Young Marx), David Moorst (NT Live: Allelujah!) and Hammed Animashaun (The Barber Shop Chronicles) lead the cast as Titania, Oberon, Puck and Bottom.

Directed by Nicholas Hytner, this production of A Midsummer Night’s Dream builds on the success of his immersive staging of Julius Caesar (filmed live in 2018).

The theatre becomes a forest – a dream world of flying fairies, contagious fogs and moonlight revels, surrounded by a roving audience following the action on foot.

Available on the National Theatre’s YouTube channel from Thursday 25 June at 7pm UK time until 11 June at 7pm.  12A rating.

★ ★ ★ ★ ★

We’re propelled into a realm of fairies and fantasy ⁠— conjured up in unapologetically crowd-pleasing style, with Arlene Phillips as movement director and a soundtrack that includes Beyoncé and Dizzee Rascal.

The Standard

★ ★ ★ ★ ★

When, at the end, large moon balloons are tossed into the crowd, it seems the party will go on forever. I found myself calculating: five stars might not be enough. How about throwing in an extra moon?

The Guardian