Leider Does The Dream Justice – Goulburn Post, Friday 2nd September 2011
A Midsummer Nights Dream
Reviewed by TOM SEBO
I can review this play in one word:
WOW!
The Lieder Theatre is currently celebrating its 120th birthday, making it the longest running continuous theatre company in Australia, and they have gone all out with this production.
Director Chrisjohn Hancock has done a fantastic job, producing a piece of theatre of such high quality that it would not be out of place on one of the major stages of Sydney or Melbourne.
The production values were incredibly high. The set looked amazing, with an intricate hand-painted back drop and some last minute trimmings which really lifted the visual appeal of the piece.
The play also had a powerful original score, which was composed by Paul Paviour, and Pauline J Mullen’s costumes were something else. However, the most incredible thing was the acting, with every cast member turning in a brilliant performance.
Besides for being wordy and writing stories which were ridiculously convoluted, Shakespeare was infamous for writing plays that were designed to be ensembles. In other words, every character could be the main character and, in most cases, they think they are. As a result, to pull off a good Shakespeare you need a cast of really good actors, capable of giving self absorbed performances and that is exactly what they have. Former Argyle Society regular Steven Routley was a show stealer as the uncouth, uneducated, wannabe thespian Nick Bottom. It is one thing to give a good performance and it is quite another to give a good performance of somebody giving a bad performance but he manages to do it. He provided much of the comic relief and his prolonged death scene was classic.
My favourite part of the show was the play within a play. Kyle McKenna, Linden Fennamore, Bruce Gerard, Marc Nell and Shane Daly were hilarious, making a big impact in the brief stage time they had. I was especially impressed with the subtlety of Daly’s performance. He played the ultra-nervous Snug and, despite being a fine young actor, watching him, you would honestly believe it was his first time on stage. Fennamore was also brilliant, hamming it up while playing a poor actor, poorly playing a damsel in distress – you have to see it!
Usual suspects Greg Seckold and Michelle McAleer, who played the king and queen of the fairies, turned in their typically outstanding performances. Vince Davis and Jo Cooper showed their theatrical experience, playing off each other perfectly to provide plenty of laughs as the Duke of Athens and the Queen of the Amazon.
The young leads were also excellent, with Kieran Milward, Gosh Waters, Anne Gaul and Sarah Simpson carrying much of the play, and Mark Churchill again proving that he is an outstanding young talent.
Given it was his first time on stage, Rabindra Roy deserves commending, as do all of the youngsters who got up there and gave it a go. As in any Shakespeare, the dialogue is both weighty and rhythmic, meaning the actors have to remember a vast amount of lines and deliver them verbatim, otherwise the show doesn’t work.
All of the cast members should be proud of the work they’ve done and go into the rest of the season knowing one thing to be true – this is one of the best productions the Lieder has staged in years!
