The first Globe Theatre burnt down in 1613 and audiences had to wait a long time, until 1997 in fact, for it to be rebuilt. The whole purpose of Shakespeare’s Globe Theatre was for it to be a replica of the Elizabethan theatre and for it to be as close to the original as possible in building and production values.
Shakespeare purists and Globe academics are not going to be pleased with A Midsummer Night’s Dream directed by the theatre’s new artistic director, Emma Rice, who for the last 20 years has worked for Cornwall’s Kneehigh as an actor, director and artistic director and has had very little experience with Shakespeare.
The Globe’s first two artistic directors, Mark Rylance and Patrick Dromgoole, managed to get the groundlings to listen to Shakespeare. On the evidence of this opening production Rice doesn’t trust the audience to do this and adds lots of songs and modern dialogue. Anytime there’s a long speech it is usually accompanied by verbal, musical and visual distractions. The performance, colourful, energetic, erotic, is aimed at those who do not really want to be listening to too much Shakespeare. Ewan Wardop is very funny as Bottom.