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ACT I
Oberon and Tytania, the King and Queen of the fairies, quarrel when Tytania refuses to let her husband take a young Indian boy. Oberon plots revenge and sends his servant, Puck, to pick a flower, whose juice, when sprinkled over the eyes of a sleeper, will make the sleeper fall in love with the first creature they see. Elsewhere, four young Athenians enter the forest. Hermia is in love with Lysander and has run away with him to escape the command of her father, Theseus, the Duke of Athens, that she marry Demetrius. Demetrius loves Hermia and has followed her into the forest and Helena, who loves Demetrius, has followed him. Helena professes her undying love for Demetrius but he rejects her, preferring to chase after Hermia. Oberon, who has overheard, is touched by Helena's devotion and sends Puck to find Demetrius and use the magic juice to make him love Helena. Then, six men, including the weaver, Bottom, enter the forest to rehearse a play, "Pyramus and Thisbe", which they hope to perform during the wedding celebrations for Theseus and his betrothed, Hippolyta. The players leave and Hermia and Lysander appear. Exhausted from their wanderings, they lay down to sleep. Puck arrives and, finding a stranger in Athenian clothing as instructed by his master, sprinkles the magic juice over Lysander's eyes. Next Helena arrives. Finding Lysander asleep he awakens him and under the influence of the magic Lysander falls madly in love with her, abandoning Hermia. Elsewhere, Oberon waits while Tytania goes to her rest then squeezes juice from the flower over her eyes.
ACT II
As Tytania sleeps, Oberon creeps into her bower and steals the Indian boy, whilst nearby the players resume their rehearsal. Oberon instructs Puck to transform Bottom into an ass. The other players, frightened by the sudden apparition, flee the forest, leaving Bottom alone. Tytania awakes, and seeing Bottom falls in love with him and takes him into her arms. Elsewhere, Oberon and Puck encounter Hermia and Demetrius, and it becomes clear that Puck has bewitched the wrong man. As Demetrius lays down to sleep, Oberon squeezes the juice over his eyes and sends Puck to find Helena. Helena arrives with Lysander still protesting his love for her. Demetrius awakes and, seeing Helena, is also enchanted towards her. Both men quarrel over Helena, while Hermia, rejected, blames Helena. Puck, following Oberon's instructions to restore order, leads the lovers away through the forest until, exhausted they all fall asleep.
ACT III
Oberon frees Tytania from her spell and she is repulsed by the sight of Bottom. Oberon and Tytania are reconciled and Puck restores Bottom to human form. Oberon frees Lysander from his enchantment and, when the lovers awake, his love for Hermia is restored. Demetrius still loves Helena, and the two happy couples decide to return to Athen's to ask the Duke's permission to marry. Elsewhere, Bottom's friends are delighted when he returns, and prepare to give their grand performance. Theseus grants the couples permission to marry and they all sit down together to watch the play, after which the fairies appear to bless the house.
This was the second, following "Peter Grimes", of Benjamin Britten's operas in this season's offerings from Opera North. Britten, I have to say, is not one of my favourite composers. I find his music generally to be rather doleful and vapid, and his opera scores certainly lack the lyrical charm of the likes of Verdi or Puccini. The music for "Midsummer Night's Dream" is, however, one of his lighter and more musical scores, although there are still discordant elements.
The setting, dominated by giant transparent balloons and columns of corrugated translucent sheeting, was, I assume, intended to be ethereal, and on that level it kind of works - but it also feels something of a cop-out. Tytania's bower, in particular, is a monstrosity, resembling nothing more than a giant stainless-steel toast rack. The costumes for Oberon and Tytania, tight-fitting robes and skull-caps in polished silvers and mirror panels, continue this theme, whilst the lovers are attired in brightly coloured 60's 'hippie' style. Puck, is rendered satyr-like with bare chest and hair covered legs, capering around on all fours like some feral beast.
The curtain rises to this particular dream with the capering of a host of gynandromorphic cherubs, dressed in white shorts and tee-shirts with golden hair and black wings, singing the opening lines. It could have, and should have, been magical, but, in truth, it wasn't. The children sang angelically enough, but the insipid nature of the opening passages of Britten's score and the blandness of the stage setting rather dulled the effect. In fact, I found the first act as a whole fairly uninspiring and lacking in dramatic impetus.
The second act, however, was much better, largely because of the beautiful soprano voice of Jeni Bern, as Tytania, singing the best arias in the piece. Slinkily attired in a silky figure hugging dress, her sexy seduction of a confused Bottom was a delight. Her counterpart, James Laing as Oberon, sang in a delicate and clear countertenor which added to the ethereal quality of the piece. Elizabeth Atherton as Helena and Frances Bourne as Hermia both sang their parts beautifully and were well matched by Peter Wedd and Mark Stone as Lysander and Demetrius respectively. Tom Walker made an animated and engaging Puck whod commanded the attention whenever he was on stage. Henry Waddington, meanwhile, made a well-rounded Bottom (pun intended) but his transformation into an ass was acheived by a strangely transparent headpiece which really did not work at all. Only in profile could the shape of an ass'es head be discerned, from the fore it only served to confuse the features of the performer which were otherwise clearly visible behind.
The third act continued in a bright vein and ended in the very funny "Pyramus and Thisbe" playlet in which Colin Judson's blond-wigged and mobile-breasted transvestite impersonation of Thisbe was hilarious.
An excellent performance of an opera that unfortunately does not do proper justice to its source material.