Lils treated Jess and I to something very special.

On Friday the 16th of February, we all met at UWA to see A Midsummer Nights Dream at the Octagon theatre. I have never seen or read the Shakespearean play, so I had no idea what to expect.

Another issue that threw any expectation that I could conjure up out the window, was that it was performed by Yohangza Theatre Company, which is Korean based.

It was soOoOooo good... I cannot try to explain my excitement when I reminisce the experience.
It starts out with the whole stage and room completely dark. Then all of a sudden you hear these funni noises and you start to see blue glowing things flying down the isles of the audience. You even hear a few people shriek, and then there is laughter. Once the blue lights are on the stage, they dance around a bit, and then all of a sudden fly over and into the back park of the stage. I assumed that this was the fairies in the story, or something magical... and they did it with such a great effect.

All the characters/actors were hilarious. Each one of them having certain comical idiosyncrasies that makes them unique from the other. The use of colour in the costumes was very effective in assisting the audience to distinguish between who were the gods, who were mortals, and which ones were the true couples, the ones that were meant to be.

I liked the Asian influence, which made the whole story flow more fluidly than if they had stuck to the original western format. I also liked the interaction with the audience, and small little touches in the dialogue that make the performance special to Perth, WA.

I guess the only thing I found difficult was reading the subtitles from where I was sitting. You wanted to see what they were saying, but then again you did not want to miss the action. But like all subtitled movies, it is easy to get used to. I think it would be wise to try and get seats in the middle of the theatre, and not on the side. (though the actors did not neglect the audience on the side... they had attempted to throw me and Lils a glowing blue thingo, but it did not reach us)

I give it a 5 Bananas outta 5 = D

Labels: Art, Opinion