In 2016 it was the 400th anniversary of William Shakespeare’s death and in tribute the college chose A Midsummer Night’s Dream as the summer play.  Tim Coker, Director of Performing Arts at the time, directed the play and his dream was based around a Golden Age Hollywood Movie or in his words “a play within a movie, within a play. We got to see our very own Hollywood Stars – Poppy Buchan (M 15-17), Jack Petheram (G 11-16), Chloe Thompson (J 12-17), Phoebe Hyslop (K 12-17), Tiff Hurren (G 12–17) and Harrison Cook (H 12-17) – live on location shooting a new feature-length film version of Shakespeare’s play”.

Chloe remembers “I absolutely loved this play, I still remember parts of the Helena monologue: ‘O spite, O hell, I see you all are bent to set against me for your merriment’. Every play I did at Bradfield was so fun but doing it in the Amphitheatre with some of my best friends was special. I remember us lining up behind the main stage, near F house, ready to go on and psyching each other up with music.”

Poppy remembers “Yes, I remember in 2016 we did a wonderful adaptation of a Shakespeare classic. Some standouts for me were the wardrobe and set we chose. The cast captured a Hollywood dressing room in the opening scene; I sat at a well-lit vanity table with autographed images, make-up artists gathered around to touch up my face and producers with headsets rushed around to create the frantic atmosphere of a film set.

Inspiration was taken from Brigitte Bardot and Clara Bow, to portray a sense of vivacious Hollywood cinema. This was successfully portrayed with silk gowns, fur coats…and lots of hairspray! Finally, it wouldn’t have been a Hollywood hit without some powerful romantic drama - part of my role was to swill my drink at Oberon, amidst a heated feud. I loved playing this role and I am grateful to have been surrounded by such a dynamic cast.”

The role of the mischievous Puck was split between four actors, exaggerating the characters comedic antics to great effect. Amy Knowles (M 12-17), Olivia Lambert (M 12-17), Kia Lawrence (I 14-19) and Sam Parsons (H 12-16) had the audiences in stitches as they played as many tricks on each other as they did on the principal characters.

The rude mechanicals – Bottom the wardrobe mistress played by Isabel Mackenzie (I 13-18) and her fellow wannabe film stars – were seen rehearsing their very own big screen (but low budget) version of The Tragedy of Pyramus and Thisbe which was filmed and projected onto the Greeker skene during the play’s conclusion. No Hollywood MGM spectacular would have been complete without a few top hats and tails, some Cole Porter songs sung by Jessica Raja-Brown (K 13-18), a tap dance number and the most amazing white wooden staircase which was built to rise up in front of the skene for the 2016 performance.

Jack Petheram remembers: “I remember this production fondly because it felt like, more than most plays I've been a part of, a mini community. Actors, costume, tech all collaborating with each other all the time; it was a production that spanned beyond just the actors playing their roles, everyone's part was important. I remember specifically when we were first introduced to the costumes, that was a really fun day. In this production Oberon was a jaded golden era film star, so he got this brilliant purple silk dressing gown that I could swish about on stage. And swish I did, I was just glad the robe came with trousers otherwise things would have gotten pretty dark pretty quickly. The Greeker was the perfect stage for this production, you could really transform the space, and I definitely found myself walking around the orchestra a bit too much. I'm glad to see it come back after all this time, nothing like a bit of magic, trickery and romance to celebrate 175 years.”

Transposing Shakespeare’s play into a Hollywood film set created a vehicle for the glossy spectacle which unfolded. Although relationships appear to end ‘happily’ in marriage, the love that leads them there is far from ‘true’, rather more vanity, play-acting, some as a result of the hypnotic powers of the opiate ‘love-in-idleness’ flower. Love in this version of A Midsummer Night’s Dream may have appeared glitzy and alluring, but like Hollywood, it was really only a dream.

Much of the Dream’s appeal lies in the fantastical setting of the forest outside Athens where the boundaries between human world and fairy kingdom merge. Where cowslips hang with dewdrop pearls, beds are made with pressed flowers and fans are the wings of painted butterflies. This magical backdrop makes the Dream an ideal introduction to Shakespeare for everyone and poses an excitingly creative challenge for directors and set designers. We look forward to sharing with you this summer’s production under the Directorship of Rosie Davies from the Drama department and her interpretation of this very modern comedy.