Shakespeare's A Midsummer Nights Dream from the National Theatre Live a production by The

Bridge Theatre in London  2019.  The play was streamed as a fundraiser for theatres which

are closed during the worldwide health crisis in 2020.  Support them at the messages given.



run time 2 hrs 39 mins



IMDb  tt10384514/                         Presented in two parts at interval

                                                                    Subtitles for English, Russian and

                                                                       Ukrainian  available in your player

Summary from NTLive



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.



Cast and Creative



directed for the stage by  Nicholas Hytner

directed for the screen by  Ross MacGibbon



Theseus/  Oberon                           Oliver Chris  

Hippolyta/Titania                            Gwendoline Christie

Puck or Robin Goodfellow           David Moorst

Hermia                                                Isis  Hainsworth

Helena                                                Tessa Bonham Jones

Demetrius                                          Paul Adeyefa

Lysander                                             Kit Young

Quince                                                 Felicity Montagu

Bottom                                                Hammed Animashaun



plus a talented variety of rude mechanicals and fairies



The complete cast and crew is in the credit roll



My notes



 When this appeared at the major streaming site for NTLive I had seen a number of Midsummer

Night's Dreams.  Here I was reminded of a  famous and audacious production by Peter Brook

in the 1960's.  That play, too, featured some aerial work and I'm not giving much away by

saying so early.



   Simply put, this is a crowd -pleaser for a young audience-- the best thing for the

theatre in any era.  The rude mechanicals are, as has been the trend from the Globe,

interestingly done and no skimping on the play-within  which,   in earlier days,   was

dismissed as too difficult.  Recent productions have proved otherwise.



Notes written  July 16th,  2020