Skip to main content
Advertise with the Morning Star
A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Bridge Theatre/National Theatre at Home
Riotous Dream for the 21st century
A Midsummer Night’s Dream

DIRECTOR Nicholas Hytner knows better than most how to play an audience and, after years of running the National Theatre, brings this immersive riot of a production to The Bridge with a palpable sense of freedom.  

When this production first surfaced last year, it seemed apocalyptic. Now even more so, when only a curmudgeon could refuse to get lost in this beautifully acted, exuberant homage to anarchy, thrillingly designed by Bunny Christie.

We could leave it there but, as so often after a wild party, there is a time of sobering reflection. And one of the effects of viewing a play on screen is that we are no longer caught in the moment. Detached from the energy that in the live show bounces off the walls, we seem to be watching a private rave from the street outside.

The 95th Anniversary Appeal
Support the Morning Star
You have reached the free limit.
Subscribe to continue reading.
Similar stories
moon
Theatre review / 27 June 2025
27 June 2025

MARY CONWAY revels in the Irish American language and dense melancholy of O’Neill’s last and little-known play

NUANCED AND COMMANDING: Bessie Carter as Vivie Warren) and Imelda Staunton as Mrs Kitty Warren / Pic: Johan Persson
Theatre review / 25 May 2025
25 May 2025

MARY CONWAY recommends a play that some will find more discursive than eventful but one in which the characters glow

titus
Theatre review / 2 May 2025
2 May 2025

GORDON PARSONS meditates on the appetite of contemporary audiences for the obscene cruelty of Shakespeare’s Roman nightmare

dealers
Theatre Review / 30 April 2025
30 April 2025

MARY CONWAY applauds the revival of a tense, and extremely funny, study of men, money and playing cards