© Brian Slater NBT 'Dream' reviews 'Midsummer' reviews Moore in reviews Wheeler in reviews recent NBT reviews more Bruce Marriott reviews

A Midsummer Night's Dream is hallowed turf it seems to me - the exquisite Mendelssohn overture, the Shakespeare plot of course and, for ballet lovers, remembering what Ashton and Balanchine did with such lovely ingredients. All of which weigh a little heavy when we heard the plot had been updated and the Mendelssohn comes with added Brahms. But this is NBT so whatever it might be it should be entertaining - and so it proved.

The story, reset in the 1930s, is about a ballet company and mostly takes place on a train travelling between London Kings Cross and Edinburgh Waverley. Act 1 sets the three pairs of lovers' stories up, in ballet class, and sees the departure of the train, Act 2 is the surreal dream as they all 'sleep' and the train trundles north, Act 3 sorts out all the unfortunate mischief, the show goes on and the dancers then party to celebrate the engagement of the 3 couples involved.

Pippa Moore as Helena in Midsummer Night's Dream
© Brian Slater

Acts 1 and 2 work well I think, not least because of the inventive set designs of Duncan Haylor. Kings Cross on a stage is possible and the audience broke into spontaneous applause as the train and station are miraculously unveiled. "Oh neat train...", I thought, "bet you can't make it move and depart!". It does - to more appreciative applause. The sets amuse much and the dancers also with strong displays of comedy mixed in with the dance. The pinnacle of this is Steven Wheeler's 'Oh-so-camp' Wardrobe Master - all wrists and eyebrows - who goes on to be a blond bombshell in a reworked Mechanicals' play. There is much good-natured, ribald humour about the action in Act 2. It pushes the boundary just a little (for ballet audiences) and of course that bit of danger is enjoyed - as when Bottom, in Donkey form, lies with Hippolyta and you hear some unusual sounds of delight (or what I think passes for Donkey delight).

David Nixon, artistic Director and choreographer of this production, knows his audience expect pas de deux (pdd) and the show regularly drops into pdd mode to please. They are pleasantly crafted but I'm afraid they don't generally move me. He can do this but it's not his forte - much stronger was the comic fighting between the two couples as they each fail to attract the one they want. Such is his dancers' exuberance (particularly Pippa Moore) and the inventiveness of the movement the audience were really drawn in, and chuckling along. However in Act 3, when the story has really run its course and the intention is to have a good knees-up the production tends to run out of choreographic steam (no pun intended).

It would have perhaps been interesting to have a shorter Dream, shorn of the Brahms, and to have added in another piece of dance entirely and make it a double bill. It would still draw the audience but they could be exposed to something a little different from what they generally associate with NBT. Nixon, who is to be hugely congratulated for rejuvenating the company since he joined 2 years ago, has good instincts in pleasing the audience and bringing people together on productions but it would be nice if he could steel himself occasionally to give other choreographers access to his dancers and audience.

Overall though you have to love the dancers and this production for its wit and invention and the audience in the Playhouse were well pleased.