Dream On is a modern-day adaptation of Shakespeare's Midsummer Night's Dream, and is performed here with great energy and humour by Side by Side Theatre. In this version, our fairies live on a waste reclamation site, Oberon (Mark Slater) sports a multicoloured punk Mohican haircut and Puck spends time between scenes executing impressive breakdancing moves. Dry ice swamps the stage at regular intervals as we are brought into director James Emtage's vision of a very modern magical world (Emtage also plays this play's Peter Quince, Inspector Spruce, in a nicely droll turn).
The dream sequences are genuinely creepy, as fairies parade in long lines through the sleep of our four romantic heroes, garishly coloured yet indistinct in the darkness, clutching at spatulas and plastic bottles like weapons. A series of dance segments propel the plot along, helping to tell story visually as well as rely on the words of the new adaptation, so we see Bryony (Teresa Byrne) pursue William (David Atkins) to the sound of the Corrs' What Can I Do as a kind of anti-romantic waltz. Emtage at one point sings “There's No Business Like Showbusiness” supported by the cast, as the players prepare for their big wedding play. This added a great deal of fun to the proceedings.
In this version Paul Taylor's Max, the Bottom figure, is transformed not into a donkey but into a giant rat, which is considerably more unnerving, especially when he shares a bath with the besotted Titania (Sarah Field). Ben Rees' Puck is the only character who gets to speak much of the original verse, but he relishes it, impishly belting out the final address to the audience.
The Stourbridge company have made an excellent impression at the Fringe, with original music serving to complement a very creative vision.
