Edinburgh Fringe 2026
Midsummer
CMU Center for New Work and Play On Shakespeare
Genre: Classical and Shakespeare, Theatre
Venue: Assembly St Andrews Square
Festival: Edinburgh Fringe
Low Down
A radically different take on this Shakespeare classic seamlessly integrating original prose with modern, more accessible language to create a vibrant performance full of top quality acting aided and abetted by superb physical theatre, costuming, set and props. Quite a lot to admire, in fact.
Review
One of the many wonderful things about Shakespeare’s plays is their malleability – you can bend and twist them into almost any shape and still end up with something that’s instantly recognisable and jolly entertaining. And Carnegie Mellon University School of Drama (in conjunction with Play On Shakespeare) have effected quite a bendathon as they deliver their idiosyncratic take entitled, Midsummer!, on what is arguably the Bard’s craziest comedy of them all, a tale of incorrectly administered potions and lovers’ trysts, plus the inevitable bits of mistaken identity.
Now, you don’t really need an explanation of the plot, do you? Really? Well, it’s a typical Shakespeare concoction that describes the intricacies of getting hitched to the right kind of person whilst navigating the machinations of various scheming parties and dodging a group of very under rehearsed actors. Yep, that’s the Mechanicals for you. Four centuries on and they’re still hamming it up.
This nine strong ensemble has clearly been on something of a journey to end up with the show that graced the magnificent Bijou venue, part of the Assembly’s Saint Andrew’s Square complex. Bijou’s stage is circular in nature allowing for a true “in the round” performance. And Jeff Whitty’s crisp, modern verse translation mixes the original with the more easily comprehended as the troupe cover all twenty-six parts, never leaving the stage in what is a whirlwind ninety minutes.
This is top dollar stuff from the get-go, where a wonderfully effete Theseus sets the whole thing up by ruling who shall be allowed to marry whom, whilst Hippolyta sports a dagger stare that could kill at twenty paces. Guess who’s side she’s on. It’s a high energy start, which is maintained throughout the piece, ensuring there’s no danger of it dragging, or the audience losing interest.
Adaptations like this stand or fall on the quality of the acting, which here is universally excellent throughout. Each actor’s many characters are expertly delineated through accent and movement, more often than not augmented by an almost complete costume change. Without them exiting the stage. Just using nooks and crannies to stay in character whilst morphing into their next assignment. Those of us banished to the cheap seats in the outer circle at the venue got the full benefit of this intriguing off-stage action which, for me at least, added innovation to a piece of theatre performed so often by so many companies that it can become, shall we say, a bit predictable. No chance of that happening here.
There was some excellent inclusive or gender-neutral casting too. The idea of having Hippolyta and Oberon played by the same actor (the engaging Jakai-Nyasia) was clever, as was the decision to cast the outrageously flamboyant Siahvash Marshall as Theseus and Titania. And the four star cross lovers were all admirably fitted to their core roles, doubling down with dexterity to deliver their many and varied alternative characters.
Someone, presumably director Kim Weild, has done an awful lot of plotting and planning to make sure that this thing flows seamlessly, which it does. Attention to detail is evident in everything from the many and varied props through to the use of dialogue to create enough time to effect some of the more complex segues. And the costumes – oh, the costumes. Someone has had a great time here, creating a peacock display of colours and textures, augmented with a bedazzling array of accessories.
But this show goes well beyond top drawer direction and acting. What marked it out as special (for this reviewer) was the quality, inventiveness and delivery of the physical theatre elements. Puck (the elastic Eli Strain) personified this throughout with an athletic display that was, at times, jaw dropping given the confines of their surroundings. But the piece de la resistance came in the four way fight as Lysander, Demetrius, Helena and Hermia face off in the forest – superbly choreographed and very deftly executed, involving split-second timing, a number of complex lifts and energy levels beyond comprehension.
Thankfully Midsummer! stuck with the tradition that’s stood the test of the centuries and gave the opportunity for a few folks to ham it up as the curtain call beckoned. Yes, it’s that lamentable tale of Pyramus and Thisby, wonderfully commedia dell’arte in delivery and where a jolly loud shout out is due to the charismatic Rusty Daniel for his bravura performance as Bottom/Pyramus. It’s fair to say that Pyramus was delivered with more ham than on a butcher’s bacon counter, in a style that was a cross between Kenneth Williams and Kenny Everitt (look them up if you’re under the age of 30 and you’ll get what I mean).
It was a fitting climax to a very well worn tale with a novel, refreshing twist, resulting in a top class performance that was clearly enjoyed to the full by another packed Fringe venue. Highly recommended – but get your skates on as they’re only playing until 19th.
