St Nicolas Players
Reviews of 'Disposing of the Body'
Reviews of 'A Midsummer Night's Dream'
Review by Liz McMurray, Spalding Guardian
A Midsummer Night's Dream was brought forward to the Sixties by the St Nicolas Players last week at the South Holland Centre, adding a new twist to the comedy, magic and mischief by moving the action to another time of dreams and visions.
Great performances by all cast members kept the audience captivated by the fascinating twist with Sixties music accompanying the scenes. For some, Shakespeare can be quite daunting but the St Nicolas Players made it easy to understand and enjoyable. The traditional text was intertwined with modern language which showed the adaptability of the actors.
South Holland flower queen Daisy Ivatt showed great stage presence with her interpretation of mischievous Puck - she brought the character to life. Nick Fletcher kept the audience entertained as Bottom. He was witty and did an admirable job performing in an ass's head.
I, for one will be looking forward to their next production, Blood Brothers in October.
Review by Peter Breach, NODA
This delightful interpretation, so cleverly directed, provided first class entertainment. The well cast principals all delivered their lines confidently and with clear diction. They were clothed very appropriately in 1960’s style, for it was during this period that some people experimented with mind altering substances such as LSD and magic mushrooms, whereas Shakespeare had plant extracts dropped into the eyes of his characters in order to achieve similar objectives.
There was some excellent pairing of characters that enabled players to really relate well to each other, amongst these were Hermia (Gemma Page) and Lysander (Tom Millard), Demetrius (Jans De Klerk) and Helena (Alicia Tibbs) and Oberon (Troy Melvin) and Titania (Angela Davis). From among the other players who provided strong support, Puck (Daisy Ivatt) and Bottom (Nick Fletcher) gave sterling performances, also particularly impressive was the Tree/First Fairy (Lucy Allen) who, besides coping well with her lines, just seemed to float effortlessly across the stage, her movements were so graceful.
All this activity took place on a simple but soundly constructed set and was much enhanced by a well-executed lighting plan. A most enjoyable production which I feel Shakespeare himself would have been immensely pleased with. Thank you all for providing us with this treat.