A Midsummer Night's Dream

The Royal Shakespeare Company's new production of A Midsummer Night's Dream is stunningly accompanied by the London Sinfonia performing Mendelssohn's score, and directed with the typical vigour of those who aim to bring new flair to a well-known classic. And unrequited love is, of course, persistently relevant - the miserably comic Helena's self-confidence dwindles as she chases Demetrius until he, by faerie-flower potion, loves her in return. Such scenarios will always be familiar (just replace the potions with anti-depressants), even if there are some things you can never quite modernise, such as Hermia's predicament: if she doesn't marry the man her father has chosen for her, she will be executed. Instead, she and her lover take off to the forest. The production makes accessible the fantastical elements, as well as the tender foibles that follow its characters in and out of the jungle of love, ending of course with everything in proper order. It is after all a play about dreams and make-believe. [Marcie Hume]