Festival of Chichester Review: Sparkling Shakespeare comedy sprinkles midsummer magic on West Dean Gardens

A sprinkling of fairy dust was laid over the grounds of West Dean Gardens as A Midsummer Night’s Dream took centre stage.

One of Shakespeare’s best-loved romantic comedies, a key theme running throughout is how the sprinkling of a flower’s magical nectar onto someone’s sleeping eyelids will make them fall madly in love with the first thing they see when they awake.

And I was certainly left enchanted by having my eyes opened for the first time to New Theatre Productions’ (NTP) annual outdoors foray as part of the Festival of Chichester..

On a balmy summer evening the setting - looking down from the Pergola Open Air Theatre through the gardens (where tables and chairs, blankets and bottles of chilling fizz had been left by guests ready for the interval) towards the majestic college building was magical, especially the more day turned to twilight and then to dusk.

But as wonderful as the backdrop was, the performance on stage more than matched it. With the sad passing this year of NTP stalwart Ken Strudwick the whole cast certainly did him proud with great presence and timing in all their roles.

The play weaves together the stories of four runaway Athenian lovers, a group of amateur actors, and the feuding rulers of the fairy realm. Through magic, mischief, and mistaken identities, the forest brings comic chaos before true love wins through.

Grace McClurg was full of mischief as Puck and the leads of Peter Lucas-Coxon and Carrie Allen playing the dual roles of Theseus/Oberan and Hippolyta/Titania were faultless. In fact the whole cast rose to occasion, but the undoubted star turn was NTP chairman Peter Breksal who played Bottom to its full comedic potential to the delight of a laughing-out-loud crowd. Special mention also to Rob Hall. As Egeus, father to Hermia, he did not command much stage time but grabbed the value out of every look and line.

As always, NTP is performing two shows as part of its Festival of Chichester run at The Pergola. Alongside Shakespeare’s Dream (Tuesday (July 7), Thursday (July 9) and Saturday (July 11)) there is also the chance to catch Alan Ayckbourn’s classic comedy Living Together (Monday (July 6), Wednesday (July 8) and Friday (July 10)).

Performances start at 7.30pm and tickets at £10 can be brought on the night or in advance by contacting New Theatre Productions via [email protected]

Grab it while you can as having a rare opportunity to watch talented local performers give their all in a delightful outdoor oasis really is a dream come true.

For more information check out Pergola Open Air theatre.