THE DREAMING Union Theatre, London SW1

A MIDSUMMER NIGHT’S DREAM is such an obvious choice for a musical that I am surprised it hasn’t been done before. There have been a number of operas, of course, most notably by Henry Purcell, John Frederick Lampe and Benjamin Britten and there was a time in the Victorian era when Shakespeare and Mendelssohn were inseparable. Howard Goodall’s tuneful score was commissioned by the National Youth Musical Theatre and premiered in 2001. The book and lyrics are by Charles Hart, who follows the story-line but jettisons Shakespeare’s language completely. It is strange that since the plot has been updated to 1915 there is no mention of the Great War. Bottom is much diminished and Puck is played by a woman, a retrograde step. The new play-with-a-play is not nearly as funny as the original Pyramus and Thisbe. The comic high spots in Paul Clarkson’s in-the-round production are “The Cuckoo Song” and Alastair Hill singing “Jennifer”.