Reviews

"Director Frances Loy has found a fine balance between the warmth of the play's comedy and its dark heart... A welcome debut from a promising company."
TIME OUT

"Loy directs a cast full of enthusiasm and energy, making a promising start for a new company offering a fun couple of hours in central London."
TIMES LITERARY SUPPLEMENT

"challenges the whole experience of visiting the theatre... it's an interesting and enjoyable retelling of Shakespeare's fairy world, performed with great passion from an energetic cast."
THE STAGE

"The mechanicals come over best, and their comical attempt at tragedy is genuinely funny."
FINANCIAL TIMES

"Theatre Delicatessen offers a rare and brave example of how to put the interiors of derelict buildings to good use."
BUILDING MAGAZINE

"The production achieves a sinister ambience... Hugely enjoyable and a treat, if you want to add some sunshine to a chilly winter evening this is a goer"
AUSTRALIAN TIMES

---

Full Reviews for A Midsummer Night's Dream

"Props due (as it were) to young company Theatre Delicatessen for finding this gutted office space, just a minute's walk from Oxford Circus, for their shadowy, almost sinister Dream. The production is, in the end, less radical than the half-derelict look of the place might lead you to think — all bare walls and hanging cables — but no matter. Director Frances Loy has found a fine balance between the warmth of the play's comedy and its dark heart. When Nicola Moss's Helena, after the night's confusion and partner-swapping, finally accepts the love of Demetrius, 'mine own, and not mine own', her wary look shows that, in love, you can never expect truly to know another's heart.

"The cast works hard to give the audience a sense of the otherness of the fairy realm, creating a quiet layer of distraction below and behind the acting. It's the kind of thing that would get you an aggravated 'shush' in a proper theatre: whisperings, heavy breathing, someone brushing the back of your hair as they pass. They use the walls and floor as percussion, pluck at the strings of an open piano.

"The verse is mostly well spoken, with Robert Curtis an authoritative Oberon and Dan Crow a fun Puck, and running straight through at little over 115 minutes, you'll certainly never be bored. A welcome debut from a promising company."
JONTHAN GIBBS, TIME OUT

"In its most recent incarnation as the debut production of Theatre Delicatessen, A Midsummer Night's Dream is given a very modern make-over. Performed in a disused space at the back of a Regent Street office block, this is an avant-garde take on Shakespeare's mysterious tale. It's not a romantic atmosphere: the opening scenes are performed in the dank, dirty space of the cafeteria while the audience are still standing in it, drinking tea. Once ushered into a neighbouring space, the audience sits in the round, and the play proceeds in a more conventional setting. The clan of fairies - whispering, making noises, and moving like shadows in the dark - create a sinister mood around the lover's confusion and torment. Dan Crow's Puck is delightfully mischievous, whilst Robert Curtis's Oberon speaks in foreboding tones, as they work together to cause havoc among the mortals... Owen Morse gives a strong, funny portrayal of Bottom, and his outfit is equally entertaining. Loy directs a cast full of enthusiasm and energy, making a promising start for a new company offering a fun couple of hours in central London."
FLORENCE MACKENZIE, TIMES LITERARY SUPPLEMENT

"Often performed in parks on summer evenings, director Frances Loy's A Midsummer Night's Dream is instead dark, creepy and atmospheric, as man loses his control over the natural world. But it's not just the text that has been re-imagined, it also challenges the whole experience of visiting the theatre.

"Walking into the corporate building, from the bustling West End streets, past a concierge and down a corridor is strange enough, and that's before you arrive in the vast, run-down, warehouse-like space where people are seated at tables and on couches, while one man is painting a wall blue and a woman in a reflective yellow jacket sweeps the floor. It quickly becomes apparent that the performance has already started, even before the actors, who are striding about between the tables, burst into speech before leading the audience to an even larger room next door, where seats have been arranged.

"Olivia Brown is a powerful and frightening Titania, who for a long period lies asleep in a cage, groaning and making some chilling sounds, while the fairies lurk on the edges, climbing walls and touching the hair of various audience members.

"Robert Curtis plays a rather foreboding Oberon, while Nicola Moss makes a convincing Helena. But despite the dark heart to the play, there's also plenty of comic moments, and Owen Morse provides much hilarity as Bottom.

"There's no sweet smell of freshly mown grass in this production, but it's an interesting and enjoyable retelling of Shakespeare's fairy world, performed with great passion from an energetic cast."
FRANCESCA WHITING, THE STAGE

"Few young theatre companies are able to stage their inaugural productions in the West End. But an enterprising new ensemble, Theatre Delicatessen, launches itself with a production just feet away from one of London's busiest shopping streets. Mind you, the choice of venue is not what we usually imagine when we hear the words "West End theatre": it is a disused office block, sandwiched between retail outlets and coffee houses, in which the actors have set up shop. Astute thinking, and it is certainly intriguing to step off Regent Street on a busy Friday night, leave the shoppers behind, and discover a Shakespeare play... The director Frances Loy explains in her programme note that she hopes to uncover the darker side of A Midsummer Night's Dream and points to parallels with contemporary concerns (climate change, honour killings, oppression). Her dark, modern-dress production, working with a slimmed-down version of the text, starts promisingly, with the opening scenes conducted in the café and the audience then ushered into a gutted office space for the main action in the wood... There are a few strong performances: Esther McAuley as a spirited Hermia, Dan Crow as a wilful Puck, Owen Morse as a likeable Bottom and Josh Cass as an endearingly earnest Peter Quince. The mechanicals come over best, and their comical attempt at tragedy is genuinely funny, lifting the whole production at the end."
SARAH HEMMING, FINANCIAL TIMES

"Last Saturday night, I found myself frantically racing up and down the northern end of Regent Street trying to find the entrance to a disused office building, inside of which a performance of Shakespeare's A Midsummer Nights Dream was just moments away from its opening act.

"I finally stumbled into the unmanned entrance and on into a gutted room. It resembled an impoverished community-centre meeting for troubled teens and their parents, all nervous-looking groups of people nuzzling bad coffee in plastic cups. I soon realised, however, that all was not as it seemed. The overzealous middle-aged woman with too much make-up and a glint in her eye who was marching towards me wasn't just excited to see me, and as she started to speak in Shakespearean tongue (politely asking me to step aside), it dawned on me that she was actually Hippolyta, queen of the Amazons (doubling up later as Titania, queen of the fairies), and I was late. The whole play sprang to life right then and there, as the seemingly random assortment of people surrounding us suddenly emerged as characters from the play.

"Later, as four young lovers made their plans to follow each other to the depths of the Shakespearean forest, we, too, all hurried through the strange derelict space down a dank corridor and into another room which, transformed only by subdued lighting and the actors' performance, led us into the land of the fairies. Meanwhile, the soundtrack was derived from tweaks and plucks of the built environment that surrounded the performers. Tapping on derelict metal panels, scratching the rough brickwork and running their fingers over defunct radiators, they recreated the sound effects of the Shakespearean forest.

"Theatre Delicatessen, the company that put on the work, is committed to finding disused spaces to create site-specific theatre. This is significant not just because they put on a magical play inside, but because they brought this disused building into our consciousness and laid the seed of a question in our minds: just how many other derelict spaces are there in London, and why aren't they being used?"
TAREK MERLIN, BUILDING MAGAZINE

"A Midsummer Night's Dream is often set in sunshine but the director — Frances Loy succeeds in her darker comprehension of the Dream. The play is about an unleashing of chaos where natural order has been turned upside down and a series of accidents show the weakness and fickleness of 'mortals'. The production achieves a sinister ambience - effectively underpinned by the mocking tongue—clicking and hissing of fairies and sprites. Many believed in evil spirits in Shakespeare's time. Also authentic was the sparse use of props. This was achieved with stylish efficiency; believable scenes were embellished by startling objects - Titania's throne here, a rolling cage more likely seen in a supermarket than on a stage! The music was not ambitious or figurative but limited use of a broken piano sat well with the dreamlike timbre.

"Waiting in the café for the start, the cast charged in and contrived to play out the first act there and then. This involved the audience - suitable for a play where Puck speaks directly with the audience at the end. Confusion reigned but the idea was sound and the players (dressed in fluorescent builder jackets) beckoning the audience to follow them because, 'At the duke's oak we meet,' fitted nicely.

"Robert Curtis gave a commanding performance as Theseus and Oberon — an obvious choice of cast doubling, both of them being the only rulers in the play and both of them having to straighten out mess created by others. As Theseus he came across as powerful and authoritive which would expected from a companion of Hercules. An extremely agile Puck (Dan Crow) performed with great enthusiasm - a perfect embodiment of mischief. A Welsh Bottom (Owen Morse) had the audience laughing in the right places while simultaneously inspiring sympathy from them. Nicola Moss as Helena was the pick of the four young lovers, the compelling argument between them in Act three Scene two a highlight.

"The ethereal edge, imperative in any Dream was carried off with flamboyance - the laughable attempt by the players to represent moonshine parallels the difficulties inherent in achieving a solid performance of A Midsummer Night's Dream.

"The text was intelligently delivered, vital considering that Shakespeare — the greatest scene painter of them all — had to use all his powers of imagery to describe the magical aspects of nature. Hugely enjoyable and a treat, if you want to add some sunshine to a chilly winter evening this is a goer."
CONOR MCGLONE, AUSTRALIAN TIMES

---

Previews

TimeOut London Preview

"Fairies in bright construction jackets? Builder's Bottom? Time Out visits a new site for a production of 'A Midsummer Night's Dream'

"The West End is largely the home of big-budget, popular entertainment playing in venerable buildings that were specifically built for that purpose. This month, however, sees a small revolution, as Kneehigh's version of 'Brief Encounter' opens in an old cinema in the Haymarket, and Theatre Delicatessen takes up temporary residence in 295 Regent Street. The latter could hardly be further from the plush red seats and gold trimmings of many Edwardian theatres. Rather, it's an old music showroom which the property company Property Merchant Group has generously offered rent-free prior to redevelopment. It's the ground floor of a 1920s block, next to the University of Westminster, which is otherwise occupied by conventional offices.

"The room is in just the kind of state that invariably appeals to theatre-makers. There's no carpet, the walls are peeling, there are wires intertwined with police tape trailing down from the ceiling, and the windows that run across the back of the room are distinctly grimy. There's also a pile of yellow builders' coats sitting in the centre of a rectangle surrounded by chairs. It has to be said that I'm not thinking 'A Midsummer Night's Dream' as I look around. But that's the play that Theatre Delicatessen is planning to present here for a five-week run. The company, consisting of three young directors — Jessica Brewster, Frances Loy and Roland Smith — and a producer, Mauricio Preciado Awad, was only formed last September and their plan is to take it in turns to direct, rather than floundering solo on the fringe. Consequently, Loy is directing 'The Dream', while Smith is developing his carpentry skills in response to the actors' demands for boxes etc as they experiment with the set. 'It's the way that Roland and I have always wanted to work,' says Loy, 'rather than setting limitations on the actors right from the beginning.'

"The production could not really be described as site-specific, but Loy's been lucky in that the space fits so well with her ideas for the play, which are less about fairies frolicking in the park and more about a world turned upside down. 'When Shakespeare was writing,' she says, 'fairies were pretty evil. They swapped children in their beds for horrible changelings. When Titania first enters, she talks about "contagious fogs" and "rheumatic diseases". The seas are overwhelming the continents. So without clobbering people over the head, we want to suggest that this is actually a very relevant play about climate change.' That idea will be enhanced by the suggestion that the flower that Puck circles the world for is so rare that it will arrive in a box as if it's the last of its kind..."

Read the full article here.