Maidgethma Wonderfully offbeat film!

VividSimon Simply Perfect

Teringer An Exercise In Nonsense

Marva It is an exhilarating, distressing, funny and profound film, with one of the more memorable film scores in years,

jonesclwyd I think reviewers like tonstant have said it all.The main point for me is that Phil Daniels is way too weird and scary.Drugs and flick knives are fine for a weekend in Briton - but Shakespeare's words aren't a bunch of rockers on a Brighton pier to be repeatedly whacked over the head by an East End bike chain.(Imagine an angry Stephen Hawkins after having his computer reprogrammed by Bill Sikes and the volume set on full).Also, hobgoblin's (I guess) do what they do, not in slavish service to a tedious inner psychosis, but simply for the fun of it.But, there are a lot of things in the play which are very good, and for that, well worth watching.

Alain English Easily Shakespeare's most accessible play, with fairies, lovers and comical buffoons, "A Midsummer Night's Dream" is given a decent enough rendering here. The play could have been paced better, and some scenes made funnier but on the whole the production is acceptable.The Duke of Athens Theseus (Nigel Davenport) is preparing to marry his bride Hippolyta (Estelle Kohler) but has problems with two noblemen, Lysander (Robert Lindsay) and Demetrius (Nicky Henson), fighting over the same woman, Hermia (Pippa Guard). A fourth woman Helena (Cherith Mellor) hankers after Demetrius but he's not interested. A troupe of amateur actors, including the demented Bottom (Brian Glover) rehearse a play for the Duke's wedding. Hermia flees with Lysander into the forest pursued by Demetrius and Helena where Oberon (Peter McEnery), king of the fairies, takes an interest in their affairs in between squabbling with his Queen Titania (Helen Mirren). With the aid of his trusty sidekick Puck (Phil Daniels), he attempts to resolve the lovers' dispute himself and in the meantime embarrass Titania by having her fall in love with Bottom...At it's base this an actually quite complicated plot but the genius of the writing is that it's very easy to follow. The production does the play proud in this aspect and there's never any problem understanding what's going on.The lover's fighting in the forest benefits from the use of overlapping dialogue, and there is some lovely choral work to complement the fairy scenes. The beginning and end scenes in Athen's court could have been directed with a little more urgency. As it is, they drag somewhat.Phil Daniel's Puck, however, is too sped up. He is lithe and physical but too much of his dialogue is unfathomable. The scenes with the mechanicals could have been played for more laughs, despite the best efforts of Glover and Geoffrey Palmer as Quince.The lovers are well portrayed, and their fickleness as they fall in and out of love with one another is given a nice comic edge by the actors. I feel for the actors, though, as they spend most of their scenes drenched in mud and/or water, not a bad achievement in the studio setting.This series really needs a proper modern dress update these days. There is so much power and relevance in Shakespeare's stories that this project, though well-intended, didn't always take advantage of.

tomfern After reading some previous comments, I can only conclude that some people were watching a different movie altogether. I found this version Of A Midsummer Night's Dream to be far superior to any other that I've ever seen .This is my favorite of all Shakespeare's plays, so I generally stand to be critical of the various treatments offered. However, I found this cast and direction to be outstanding, visually, and emotionally. The costumes were spectacular, the settings haunting, and the acting...flawless. I loved Geoffrey Palmer's work as well. I was lucky enough to catch a repeat of it years ago, and quickly taped it so I could watch it every summer.I themed my wedding after this play. I loved Helen Mirren's portrayal as the faerie queen, Titania. I found her to be perfect in the role. Judi Dench, I believe, played it all too 70s hippie-angsty, and could have done very well without the overexposure.The casting of an older boy as Puck, while at first seemed unfamiliar, and wrong, he quickly won me over, and soon his age didn't matter a bit. He sure beat a manic Mickey Rooney in the Hollywood version of 1935! Who, by the way, was 15 when he played the role.I saw some scenes on Youtube the other day, and the background music has been playing in my head for 2 days now. I'm hooked again.My birthday is next month..my husband is buying me the entire boxed set of the BBC Shakespeare comedies! Helen Mirren as Rosalind in As You Like It is superb again...as is John Cleese as Pertruchio in The Taming of the Shrew. I can't wait till next month...I'll be in Shakespeare Utopia.

tonstant viewer There is a ferocity about this production that is off-putting. Titania and Oberon are not ethereally at odds, but grimly at war. Puck has vampire fangs and looks like a hustler who'd offer to sell you club drugs. The rustics are not funny ever. In sum, the playfulness and magic we expect in this play are absent.That said, it's pretty to look at, as director Elijah Moshinsky continues his progress through the catalog of Old Masters paintings, usually but not always in consonance with the text.Helen Mirren is an iron-willed professional as Titania, even when the changeling child cries in her arms during a major speech. Peter McEnery's cold Oberon shows violent rage at the lovers' confusion, and in punishment holds Puck's head underwater a bit too long for comedy.Cherith Mellor is particularly good as Helena, in her only appearance in the BBC Shakespeare series. Nigel Davenport is a pleasure to listen to as Duke Theseus, in his only appearance, other than the 1978 "Much Ado" with Anthony Andrews, Michael York and Penelope Keith that was supposed to inaugurate the series but was buried. Otherwise there is little delightful about this Dream, which all too often verges on Nightmare.The slapstick dispute among the four lovers uses thickly overlapping dialog, which speeds things up but renders it unusable in the classroom. The rude mechanicals are gentrified here, killing Shakespeare's pointed class distinction and most of the humor with it. Geoffrey Palmer is ineffective as Peter Quince. Brian Glover gives his all as Bottom, but is Liliputian compared to the awe-inspiring Paul Rogers in the Peter Hall film.In fact, that delightful Peter Hall film from 1968 is superior in every major aspect except the technical ones. There Ian Richardson and Judi Dench make magic as the Fairies' Rulers, Helen Mirren, Diana Rigg, David Warner and Michael Jayston are the lovers, Paul Rogers is Bottom and Ian Holm plays Puck as Oberon's faithful dog, tongue hanging out in eagerness for mischief - all shot outdoors in a wondrous twilight wood. Now that's one bewitching Dream!