Yesterday may have been a freeezing winter's night (-4ºc), in riverside Kingston-upon-Thames, but the lucky Rose audience enjoyed a heart-warming performance of Shakespeare's most hilarious work. A packed house reveled in the fantastic ensemble performances of Midsummer Night's Dream, directed by Sir Peter Hall. Dame Judi Dench revisited her 1960's role as Faerie Queen Titania - fabulously and fittingly. Dame Diana Rigg's daughter, Rachael Stirling, was magnificent and remarkable as lovelorn Helena; her (real-life) boyfriend, Oliver Chris, was stupendous as hyper-enthused, Brummie-accented, Bottom.The entire audience appeared enraptured; I truly loved it and found the whole spectacle even better than I had anticipated. Endearingly, 14 local children participated, along with the professionals, as elves. The whole run is pretty much sold-out but 20 tickets will be released, for each performance, on a daily basis - for Kingston residents only, until 6pm, and thereafter any remaining will become available to all. Boy, that Shakespeare had a way with words and wit! If you're anywhere near the Rose Theatre and can get a ticket (it runs until 20th March), don't miss out...
Photo by Nobby Clark shows Dame Judi Dench as Titania and Oliver Chris - resplendent in ass-head - as Bottom.
