Shakespeare's popular A Midsummer Night's Dream gets a modern touch in the opening show of the Globe's 2026 summer season.
Expect fun, chaotic romantic entanglements, confusion, mayhem and lawlessness as themes of appearance versus reality and magic and dreams are explored in this whimsical adaptation where bubble blaster guns appear on stage and it all just feels normal.
The main quartet of characters is made up of lovers Hermia (Sophie Cox) and Lysander (Mel Lowe) who flee into a forest to escape the patriarchal laws of Athens. They're followed by Helena (Romaya Weaver) who is hopelessly in love with Demetrius (Gavi Singh Chera) who is hopelessly in love with Hermia.
However, the forest is not empty – in it are a group rehearsing a play they're about to perform for a royal wedding. And that's not all – the forest is home to Titania (Audrey Brisson) and Oberon (Enyi Okoronkwo), the Queen and King of the fairies. His right-hand fairy is Puck (Michael Grady-Hall) who is tasked with putting love potions into the eyes of certain characters, and the chaos begins.
As you watch the characters sleep in the forest under the stars, you're reminded of where you're sitting, in the open-air theatre also under the moon and stars.
It's probably easier to perform this comedy as it's written, but director Emily Lim cleverly weaves in audience interaction from beginning to end which gives the performance an elevated feel. And given that it runs for two hours and 25 minutes, including an interval, that really gives it a lift. One of the finest examples of this is when Puck accidentally puts the love potion into his own eyes, meaning he'll fall in love with the first person he sees. Cue unsuspecting audience member Steve who becomes the object of his affections and is then referenced in the play as if he were indeed a part of it.
The characters run around on stage and on the ground, in between the standing audience members, which echoes the play's themes of chaos and confusion. When the potion is lifted, they all wake thinking the mischief and disorder was a dream. Peace is restored with a triple wedding at the end, the Duke of Athens and the Queen of the Amazons, Hermia and Lysander and Helena and Demetrius.
This family-friendly modern take also gets a revamp in terms of clothing. The Costume Design Concept is by Fly Davis who does a fantastic job dressing the cast with some wonderful ensembles which you wouldn't associate with Shakespeare, but it totally works and the injection of the flamboyant wardrobe on the stage gives it a real zhuzh.
A Midsummer Night's Dream is on at the Globe Theatre until 29 August, a great watch if your children have it on their school curriculum. The venue will also be hosting performances of Shakespeare's other works including Much Ado About Nothing, Love's Labour's Lost and As You Like It.
It runs until 29 August.
Review: Sunita Jaswal