MEGAN CHORITZ gives us 10 reasons to get to Maynardville for A Midsummer Night’s Dream. This production of Shakespeare in the Park, presented by VR Theatrical, is fresh, energetic, sexy, and not too long, she reckons. Here we go:
- The team of VR Theatrical have brought fresh young energy to the park. Jaco van Rensburg and Wessel Odendaal are like a power theatre couple who have invited the cool kids to their party, and it is so lekker, and sexy and fabulous just to be there. Never even mind the play.
- There are cool food trucks and drinks trucks and lots of outdoor places to sit so you don’t even have to bring your own picnic for before the show. (Although on the night they had run out of the single vegan option, and I had to order Mr D)
- The staff. Gone are the grumpy, and the new kids on the block (the crew) are jolly, lively, and actually helpful.
- The actual play, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, is Shakespeare’s shortest play, often thought of as his best, because of its completely manageable length. I know I was happy that there was no interval!
- The prettiness. Geoff Hyland’s production of A Midsummer Night’s Dream is designed to fit in with the park and it is so pretty. Jesse Brooks, who is the scenographer, has made flowers and bubbles and lots and lots of leaves and there are two beds.
- There are gorgeous costumes designed by Michaeline Wessels, and there needed to be because the audience were mostly young (can you believe it? At Maynardville nogal?) and gorgeous and dressed to the nines, and tens and elevens.
- Mark Elderkin. Even if Shakespeare is not your thing, go to see Mark Elderkin, who plays Nick Bottom from top to bottom. The audience could not get enough of him. Some of my drink did exit my nose due to him. He is properly hilarious and magnificent.
- Geoff Hyland the director chose the perfect bunch of young people for the Maynardville Midsummer party. They looked fit, sounded great and there was even some cute and eerie singing (original songs by Wessel Odendaal himself!), lots of sexy young bodies flying through the summer air, and plenty of cuteness all around. Enough that you could forget you were watching an ancient old play, and that’s the whole point!
- It’s outside. Watching theatre outside is fun. More fun than inside. I was well prepared with my stick of Peaceful Sleep, because the night was absolutely perfect, and we saw an owl fly overhead during the bit where the fairies come and begin their naughty magic. The play was occasionally punctuated with hoots from the road and a little bit of Saturday night swearing from the rough sleepers close by. If I think about it, A Midsummer Night’s Dream is the only play where that could work.
- My heart was so glad that Shakespeare in Maynardville had been resurrected after COVID I would probably have been happy with an AMDRAM production of Henry IV, but I was so delighted that this Shakespeare production was beautiful, short, and made for the times. It’s for you, us. Shakespeare in the park will survive if we go. But you don’t need to grit your teeth through the Shakespeare of it all. This is the best fun you can have, outside, watching theatre. Go. Book. Enjoy.
What: A Midsummer Night’s Dream
Where and when: Maynardville until 23 February 2023
Tickets: Quicket
Photography: Mark Wessels
WS
