A Midsummer Night’s
Dream, Peacock
Theatre –
Saturday 30th August
The
Alternative Review
The National Youth Theatre (NYT)
began in 1984, and its aim is to produce high quality plays
with casts of young people from youth theatres across
Ireland. NYT is a part of NAYD (National Assoc. of Youth
Drama), which is the development organisation for youth
theatre and youth drama in Ireland, and has a membership of
over fifty youth theatre groups throughout the country. NYT
held auditions for this year’s production in different
regional centres, and these auditions were open to any young
people, over the age of sixteen, who were members of a youth
theatre group, affiliated to NAYD. Twenty lucky young actors
were selected via the audition process and they were invited
to NUI Maynooth for a three-day workshop in June, and then
for an intensive three weeks of full-time rehearsal in
July/August. Prior to the production, the cast moved to St
Patrick’s College, Drumcondra to prepare for performance.
So, why was a Longford man sitting
in the audience of The Peacock Theatre, Dublin, on a
Saturday afternoon, watching young people perform
Shakespeare? Because two of the twenty actors on-stage were
from Longford, and are members of Backstage Youth Theatre
(BYT), that’s why! Mary-Rose Phipps and Darren Yorke were
selected from the hundreds who auditioned, and got the
opportunity of a lifetime, working with a professional
director and tackling what must be the pinnacle for most
actors, young and old, the ‘Bard’ himself. This was
Mary-Rose’s second year with NYT, appearing last year in
Brecht’s ‘The Caucasian Chalk Circle’, together with
Elaine Clarke. Darren made his debut this year, after a
number of roles with BYT, and in pantomimes with Backstage
Theatre Group. To support their ‘colleagues’, BYT
organised a bus, and reduced-price tickets, so that almost
twenty other members could go to Dublin to watch the matinee
performance.
Enough background, and so, on to
the show! Just so we are all on the same page, this was
Shakespeare done by teenagers. If you want to see a faithful
adaptation, performed by the RSC, then I suggest you go to
Stratford-upon-Avon, or London’s West End. Or, to quote a
line added to this show ‘F**k the purists!’ This was
experimental, in script, costuming and use of music. And,
like any experiment, some bits did not work, but a lot of
them did. And, of the ones that did, most of them worked
superbly. The ‘Rude Mechanicals’ play-within-a-play was
an absolute scream. Darren Yorke’s appearance from behind
a piano, to the theme from Jaws, was genius. ‘Wall’ was
a howl, and ‘Nick Bottom’s’ prolonged death sequence
was achingly funny. ‘Thisby’s’ lady-boy was
pitch-perfect and ‘Peter Quince’s’ over-enthusiastic
director would ring countless bells with anyone involved in
amateur drama. Another experiment was casting a female in
the role of ‘Puck’, and Mary-Rose Phipps played the part
with aplomb, adding a hitherto unseen sexual tension to Puck’s
relationship with Oberon.
On the downside, I didn’t think
the modern, punkish, costumes, or the overly-dramatic
entrance, worked. This is a whimsical play, full of fairies
and fancy, unrequited love and spells gone wrong. It needs a
dream-like atmosphere to draw the audience into a world
between two worlds. But, that said, the talent and energy
displayed on the stage makes such criticism almost petty and
redundant. The ensemble cast made this play come alive, and
our two local actors, Mary-Rose and Darren, more than held
their own with the best the country has to offer.
Shakespearian text is so difficult
to deliver, especially to an audience who may not have
studied it, but these youngsters made sense of it for
everyone who sat in the Peacock last Saturday. That is no
mean feat! How often can one say that they went to see a
Shakespeare play, done by kids, and it got a richly deserved
standing ovation? Not very often, one would imagine. But,
that’s what happened, believe me!
On the production side, lighting,
sound and set were fresh and inventive, and the cast’s use
of the stage, and auditorium, was highly effective. Overall,
Gyorgy Vidovsky’s production was fearless, with both risks
and liberties taken, in the name of accessibility. In my
opinion, all the liberties worked and most of the risks paid
off. It may not have been as the Bard intended, but as pure
entertainment goes, NYT came, they saw, and they conquered.
Take a bow, boys and girls!
I will conclude with a word on
Backstage Youth Theatre. Huge credit must go to Paul
Higgins, Chairperson, Pat-Joe McLoughlin and everyone
involved in BYT, past and present. Their dedication, effort,
and support in a voluntary capacity has created something
special for the young people of Longford. I overheard one
member commenting after the play "That was brilliant. I
can’t wait to audition next year." Out of the mouths
of babes, indeed!
Brendan Williams
